


all signs point to a bumpy ride

by jinxfabray



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, M/M, Past XiuHan, Red thread au, i hope u enjoy it, idk i cant think of tags, kailu - Freeform, sehun/tao/yixing, suyeol, they drink alcohol and get drunk sometimes, this is the work of my lifetime, those are the side ships for the most part
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 02:22:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 27,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11613933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jinxfabray/pseuds/jinxfabray
Summary: minseok wasn't looking for a soulmate, but there are two threads on his finger and a whole mess ahead of him.





	all signs point to a bumpy ride

**Author's Note:**

> BIG SHOUTOUT to clo for being this fic's other parent honestly i couldn't have done this without your insightful comments and your motivational talks and your constructive criticism i love you thank you i love you!! thanks to fefa for coming up with a solid 70% of the plot for this fic and for always giving me a shoulder to whine on i love u and appreciate u. as always thanks to sara ur the best person that has ever existed or at least my favorite one.
> 
> ANYWAY i hope u enjoy this comments are appreciated it pls come yell at me about it or whatever i have never written this many words im tired and pleased but also i feel like im introducing a baby into society or something
> 
> title from the power of three by belle & sebastian

it's the middle of the night when baekhyun feels something start to tug at his hand. the sensation is insistent, but it's also somewhere around one am and his bed is warm and comfortable so whatever it is will have to wait until morning. there used to be someone sleeping next to him a couple of hours ago, but he seems to have slipped out without baekhyun noticing. it's a shame, he was cute, but baekhyun can also hear his roommate breathing from across the room so maybe it's for the best. it's always awkward waking up with a third person in the room. they try to crash somewhere else when one of them has someone over, but baekhyun hadn't let his roommate know with enough time. if the cute guy woke up and decided to flee when he saw someone else sleeping in the room, baekhyun can't blame him.

he rolls over to lay on his back, and the tugging nearly makes him fall off the bed with how hard it's trying to get his attention, clearly not pleased with baekhyun’s attempt to fall back asleep. it’s yanking hard enough baekhyun fears he might fly across the room.

he opens his eyes at last, only a little. the red thread is shimmering in the moonlight, tense in the air and connecting his finger to his roommate's who doesn't seem to have even felt it even though the thread has made his hand fall from the bed. baekhyun blinks a couple of times at it, just to be sure it's there. it's bright and impossible to miss, and it's unexpected but so obvious he's not even surprised about this turn of events. as his brain starts to wake up properly, he realizes there’s a second thread, and that is definitely not something he would have ever thought he’d see. this one isn’t tense at all, it’s lying on the floor, leading all the way to the door and sneaking under it. so two soulmates. baekhyun thinks he should be confused but really, he’s just excited.

there's another tug, so he clumsily gets up from his bed and slips into jongdae's. the movement causes jongdae to stir a little, and he opens an eye as he makes room for baekhyun, instinctively curling up around him. baekhyun has no clue how jongdae’s slept through the thread trying to pull them together, but he’s always been a heavy sleeper.

"we're soulmates," baekhyun whispers after jongdae's closed his eyes again because of course he won't even ask why baekhyun's decided to sleep in his bed.

"yeah, obviously," jongdae mumbles, burying his head in baekhyun's neck.

"no, dae, i mean we're soulmates for real," baekhyun says more urgently, shaking his shoulder a little. "don't you feel the thread?"

"of course i feel the thread," jongdae smiles, baekhyun can feel it against his skin. "now go to sleep, soulmate."

baekhyun tries. surely they can discuss this in the morning. there's no rush, and it'll be easier in daylight but he just needs to be sure jongdae fully grasps the situation. baekhyun isn’t the only one with two threads here, and he doesn’t want jongdae to freak out when they wake up or something.

"we have a second thread," baekhyun whispers, unsure if jongdae is still awake.

"we'll find whoever it is in the morning," jongdae says quietly, and it's such a relief. "if - if you want to, that is."

baekhyun doesn't need to think much about it. he knows this, him and jongdae, it's good and reliable and it /works/. but it'd be unfair and a coward move not to find whoever's at the end of the thread.

"i do," he says, but jongdae is already breathing deeply, and baekhyun takes one last look at him before closing his eyes. he's already lucked out in this soulmates business, and he can't imagine what they could possibly be missing but that only makes it all more exciting.

  
  
  


it's nice knowing even after everything, minseok can still count on luhan always. all it takes is a text, and he's waiting in the car for him right outside the apartment building.

"thanks," minseok says as he climbs into the car. it took a near-herculean effort to get out of bed, and he's ready to get under his own blankets as soon as possible. he really hopes this thing that's happened doesn't keep him up because it's really not worth it. he's made a choice already.

"rough night?" luhan asks, eyeing him carefully. he knows something's up - he’s always been good at seeing straight through minseok, like he’s got some sort of sixth sense that lets him read his mind and interpret his feelings better than anyone else ever could.

"not really, i had fun actually," minseok replies, looking out the window because he fears if he looks at luhan he'll see right through him. "but he had a roommate so it didn't seem like a great idea to spend the night."

"ah," luhan nods, though it's obvious he's not buying it. he keeps his eyes on the road, and minseok takes this chance to take a proper look at him.

"you weren't sleeping, were you?" he asks at last, because luhan looks worn out and he'd hate to have dragged him out of bed.

"i was at work, like i told you, so clearly i wasn't sleeping," luhan says seriously but then the facade breaks a little and he's smiling. "fine, i was sleeping a little so it was good that you called, i would've probably just slept at the office otherwise and that's bad for my back and my reputation. people might start thinking i’m as human as the rest of them, and we can’t have that."

minseok smiles back, leaning against the car seat and closing his eyes for a little bit. he’s tired, and if he keeps his eyes open he’s afraid he’ll end up glancing at his finger often enough for luhan to notice. he doesn’t want to be asked questions as a general rule, but he especially doesn’t want to have luhan hear his answers. he might try to talk him out of his decision to just ignore the thread, or even worse, he might understand why he’s doing it and get sad about it. there’s nothing minseok hates more than luhan being sad.

luhan drops him at his apartment and there’s a hint of suspicion in the look he gives him, like he can smell something is going on, but he doesn’t say anything which means he doesn’t suspect it has to do with any stupid thread. it’s better this way, minseok knows it. he’s just going to pretend the thread isn’t there anyway so really, there’s no point in anyone knowing about it. 

 

it’s fine.

 

all he needs to do is stop glancing at the thread.

 

and stop thinking about the thread.

 

while he’s at it, he should probably stop thinking about the thread being attached to baekhyun -- and to baekhyun’s roommate.

 

at least he doesn’t have to stop thinking about the roommate, because that would be annoying. he only needs to stop thinking about baekhyun, and baekhyun’s eyes disappearing when he laughed so loud at minseok’s dumb jokes. that rich, gorgeous laugh, coming from his shining lips, wet thanks to baekhyun’s apparent inability to keep his tongue inside his mouth.

minseok needs to stop thinking about all of that. it’s easy. he’s just got to ignore every thought related to the thread, and set fire to every tiny feeling that’s threatening to bloom in his chest when he catches a flash of red as he moves his own hand and remembers baekhyun curling up around him in his sleep. 

 

easy.

 

piece of cake, really.

  
  
  
  


“it’s cold, i don’t wanna get up,” jongdae mumbles a few hours later. his bed is a good bed, it’s always warm and comfortable and he always has trouble getting up in cold mornings, but today it’s especially hard because he has baekhyun draped all over him. it should be a bother, considering he’s not made of air and half of his body is right on top of jongdae’s, but he’s surprisingly alright with this current position. 

baekhyun grunts something that doesn’t sound like any word jongdae is familiar with, and he tightens his grip on jongdae’s waist. of course jongdae, the least cuddly person on earth, would end up with a human octopus for a soulmate.

“but, we should get up,” he keeps on saying, tapping baekhyun’s nose until he stirs. “we have some stuff to talk about, come on.”

“no,” baekhyun groans, attempting to bite jongdae’s finger. “let’s talk in the afternoon. cold. early.”

“come on,” jongdae repeats patiently, shaking his shoulder, finally getting baekhyun to sit up a little. 

“you’re a terrible soulmate,” baekhyun shakes his head, rubbing his hands over his face. he clearly went to sleep with his make up still on the night before, and his eyeliner is smudged in a way that should not be attractive at all. jongdae has always found him attractive at the weirdest times. now he supposes he knows the reason for it.

“luckily for you, i’m not the only one you’ve got,” jongdae grins, wiggling his little finger at him. the part of the thread that’s connected to baekhyun keeps sparkling like it’s made of glitter, and it makes a nice effect when he twirls it around like that.

baekhyun blinks a little, caught up in watching the thread swirl and shine. he swallows thickly, and grabs jongdae’s finger, bringing it closer to his face.

“i think,” he starts saying, and jongdae looks at him expectantly. he’s got at least five thousand different questions and worries in his brain right now, and he doesn’t even know where to start. “i mean. if we’re soulmates, we’ll meet eventually, right?”

jongdae chews on his bottom lip, giving it some thought. maybe he should tell baekhyun what he knows, because he’s not so sure they’ll meet their soulmate again just by chance, but also he’s not sure how baekhyun will react if he finds out what happened. 

he’s distracted, too focused on making a decision, and then baekhyun presses his thumb to his lip. it is a very, very efficient way to get his attention.

“you’ll end up making it bleed,” baekhyun says, and it’s a pretty casual statement but his voice is low and not very casual at all. he’s still sitting on top of jongdae, running his thumb over his lip, and suddenly jongdae feels very inclined to let everything else be sorted out at some other time.

“do you think it’s different,” he says very slowly, when baekhyun lets go of his lip. his thumb traces his jaw, and jongdae is having trouble breathing. “as soulmates?”

“let’s find out,” baekhyun smirks before leaning in, and this is not the first time they’ve kissed, so the second their lips meet, jongdae has his answer - it isn’t different, not at all, because they were soulmates since the first day. it’s as natural as it ever was.

  
  
  


 

(jongdae had just got back to the room when he felt it. he’d slipped into his bed as quickly as he could, because it was cold and he could see more than one sleeping body in baekhyun’s bed so the faster he fell asleep, the less chance there was he’d have to run into a half naked stranger in his own room. he was on the verge of falling asleep, but not quite there yet, when his finger started itching. something weird was happening. since his hand was on his pillow, right by his bed, he only had to crack an eye open to see the thread forming around his little finger, as if it was being magically weaved by fairies right there before his own eyes.

a noise came from baekhyun’s bed, and he went very still. it wasn’t baekhyun who was getting up, so jongdae did his best impression of profoundly asleep and waited. he’d seen the threads, both of them, starting as shiny bits of something that looked like silk but felt like nothing jongdae had ever touched before. they’d curled up around his finger, one of top of the other, leading very clearly to the other bed. now he could see the stranger in the middle of the room, examining his own finger and lifting his hand as if to make sure they were real. he considered getting up, saying something, because his heart was thumping really loudly in his chest and this - god. he didn’t even know the person and he was already over the moon about this.

but then he’d grabbed his clothes in a hurry, feeling around for his phone, and he’d been gone before jongdae could react.)

  
  
  


they go for breakfast once they finally manage to get up, because baekhyun keeps insisting on having a first date as soulmates, as if they’d ever had a first date as non-soulmates before. it’s cold outside, so they walk with jongdae’s hand in the pocket of baekhyun’s coat, and so little has changed with the thread showing up that it’s easy to forget there’s someone else attached to it because this just makes sense as it is.

junmyeon greets them when they get to jongdae’s favorite cafe, looking pristine and so very grown up even in his bright pink apron. he raises an eyebrow while he’s grinning at them, and jongdae can feel the blush creeping up his throat. he knows junmyeon tries very hard to figure him and baekhyun out, but sometimes it’s hard for him to do that without judging them.

it’s not his fault, junmyeon believes strongly in having one true love and devoting one’s life to that one person. in his eyes, baekhyun is that person for jongdae, and he’s always found it ridiculous that they haven’t embraced monogamy yet. he clearly expects one of them will get jealous over a hook up and realize they really don’t need anyone but each other, as if they were characters in a badly written sitcom, so every time he sees one of them with someone else at night, he makes sure to bring it up when they come in for breakfast. it’s uncomfortable for everyone, really.

before junmyeon can open his mouth though, chanyeol spots them from the table where he’d been reading and strides towards them quickly.

“ah, congratulations,” he says, and jongdae gives baekhyun a look because honestly, when did he even manage to text him if he’d been right by jongdae’s side since last night? “i can’t believe junmyeon was right about you two, but i guess it makes sense.”

“oh my god,” junmyeon says, looking a second away from losing his composure. “you’re /soulmates/? you got your thread? i knew it, i’ve known it all along,” he sounds so ridiculously pleased with himself jongdae is tempted to lie and deny everything just to watch him suffer.

“i’ll have one big hot chocolate, and a vanilla latte for jongdae,” baekhyun orders, leaning on the counter and looking at the sign behind junmyeon as if literally none of that conversation had ever reached his ears, though the tips of them have gone suspiciously red. jongdae likes that. he likes how baekhyun is still holding onto his hand in his pocket, too.

“you can ignore me all you want,” junmyeon says, writing their order all down because he never stops being responsible, not even when he’s being a gossip. “but it won’t make me any less right.”

“hyung,” jongdae whines, “i hope you know being soulmates isn’t suddenly going to turn us into some ridiculous domestic couple like you two are.”

junmyeon merely shakes his head and walks away to grab a muffin for baekhyun, because he may be terrible about some things but he’s a good hyung deep down.

“don’t get me involved in this, i didn’t say anything,” chanyeol protests, looking vaguely offended at being called domestic. “he was gonna find out eventually, considering all you two do is look down at your fingers like you’re going to find money or something there.”

jongdae startles a little at this, because he wasn’t aware he was doing that. it’s just funny to have that one other thread lying there on the floor, tangled up with baekhyun’s and leading to who knows where. 

“where did you go last night?” he asks baekhyun as conversationally as he can once chanyeol’s gone back to his table. junmyeon hands them their drinks and two muffins, and baekhyun has to let go of his hand so they can grab all of it. it’s ridiculous, how quickly he feels his hand go cold.

“uh, some party that had something to do with kyungsoo’s job. he claimed he wouldn’t know anyone but he had to go because his boss would be there and all the usual stuff, but then he ditched me for some girl as soon as we arrived,” baekhyun says as they sit down, putting his hands on his cup to keep them warm. “it was cool because i ended up meeting that cute guy - well, you didn’t actually see him but he was cute. wait. is that alright, now that we’re soulmates?”

“i don’t see how us being soulmates would make the guy any less cute,” jongdae laughs, but he knows what baekhyun means. “it doesn’t change anything, i promise. the way i see it, the only thing that’s new is this - well, this,” jongdae says, lifting his little finger up in the air and twirling the looser thread around it. “this is something i wanna explore, but we’re good like we are, i think.”

“we’ve always been good,” baekhyun nods, taking a sip of his chocolate though it looks like a technique to hide his dumb grin more than a sudden eagerness to get his tongue burnt, as he predictably does. “i was worried you’d suddenly go all monogamous on me. i’m still young, you couldn’t handle my stamina.”

jongdae kicks his knee not too gently.

“as i was saying,” he carries on, ignoring baekhyun’s whine. “this other thread may have something to say about monogamy - but we’ll find out soon, i have a feeling about this.” 

“they’re supposed to be our soulmates, i doubt we’ll clash on much,” baekhyun shrugs his shoulders, balancing on his chair in a way that jongdae knows will get junmyeon to come yell at them in less than ten seconds. “anyway, if they turn out to be terrible and the thread’s wrong or something, at least i know i have one soulmate that’s kind of alright.”

“i don’t think threads can be wrong,” jongdae frowns, wisely ignoring the rest of baekhyun’s comment. “anyway, so you were saying something about kyungsoo and a girl?”

“oh no, i was saying something about the cute guy,” baekhyun grins, finally letting his chair fall back on its front legs, and jongdae can see junmyeon sighing from the bar. he doesn’t know if it’s relief or just that he’s given up on baekhyun giving a damn about his furniture entirely. baekhyun’s eyes are shining as he starts telling him the story in detail of how exactly he approached kim minseok, 26, architect, cutest boy in the room but also the owner of the best abs baekhyun had ever had the pleasure of getting acquainted with. it makes jongdae itchy in a way he can’t identify, because he’s never not told baekhyun something, but he needs to be sure. baekhyun’s genuinely excited about this guy, and if he’s decided to walk away and not look back on this soulmate business, then knowing about it would only crush him. it’s for the best if he doesn’t know, at least not yet. not until jongdae’s had the chance to test the waters.

  
  
  
  


it’s fairly easy to find minseok, considering jongdae knows exactly where he works and has absolutely no qualms about hiding near the building’s entrance to wait for him like a regular stalker. he’s not entirely sure he remembers what he looks like, but it’s easy to spot him since there’s that tiny detail of the thread that’s linking their fingers together. when minseok steps outside the building, the thread tenses up in the air and tugs at his finger rather brusquely. jongdae sees him following the thread with his eyes so he decides to step out of the bushes.

“let me buy you lunch, hyung,” he offers with his best grin when minseok finally finds him. he looks at jongdae like he doesn’t quite trust him, and it’s funny to see him go from suspicious and reluctant, his mouth opening up like he’s going to fight it, and then to watch him just give up when he sees how set jongdae is on this.

“fine,” he says, his shoulders falling from the tense position they’d taken when the thread had started tugging at him. 

jongdae leads the way to the nearest food place, and he has to practically bite his tongue for real to keep himself from blabbering, but minseok looks like he has a lot on his mind and maybe it’d be best to give him a second to process this ambush situation. he waits until they’ve sat down with their food, and then he gives minseok a moment to drink his water though it doesn’t look like he’ll stop looking like wants to run away no matter how much he hydrates himself.

“so i’m kim jongdae, and we’re soulmates,” jongdae says at last, causing minseok to nearly choke on his drink.

“that was subtle,” minseok laughs, but it’s dry and jongdae doesn’t like it. 

“the thread isn’t exactly subtle,” jongdae reasons, and minseok looks down at his finger and swallows. 

“how did you find me?” he asks after a moment of staring at the thread that’s stopped tugging now, apparently pleased with their proximity. 

“you know i saw you,” jongdae says, hoping it doesn’t show in his voice how very much he hates the way minseok is looking at the thread, as if it was the last thing he wanted to have around his finger. “the night it showed up, before you left. i just asked baekhyun about you, it’s not like i’ve been following the thread around the city or anything.”

(he would have, if he hadn’t seen minseok that night. he would’ve grabbed baekhyun and led them throughout the entire country to find the other end of the thread.)

minseok doesn’t say anything else, and they start eating though jongdae doesn’t feel like he can actually stomach his food at all. he doesn’t know why he expected something different, he thought maybe minseok had been scared, that night, but now that time has passed, jongdae had hoped he’d have given it some thought and could be happy to see him. but minseok looks very calm about this whole situation and definitely not like he’s eager to get to know jongdae at all.

“listen,” minseok says, coaxing jongdae out of his thoughts. “you don’t have to - whatever you’re trying to do, you don’t have to. i know you don’t need me, threads aren’t always right.”

“what,” jongdae says, blinking at him in confusion. nothing about this is going as expected, but this - this is especially out of the blue. “i’m not trying to do anything, i just thought maybe you’d like to give getting to know me a chance, seeing as we’re supposed to be soulmates and all, but i’m getting the vibe you’re not interested in it.”

“it’s not like that,” minseok mumbles so that it’s hard for jongdae to catch, but he hears it loud and clear nonetheless. he’s playing with his chopsticks and staring down at them, unwilling to meet jongdae’s eyes. “what about baekhyun?”

“what about baekhyun,” jongdae repeats dumbly, completely at a loss. “i mean, he doesn’t know it’s you - i didn’t tell him i’d seen you because i wanted to know why you’d left first, in case it was, well, something like this. he’s very excited about the thread, i didn’t want him to get crushed.”

now he’s gonna have to figure out a way to get baekhyun to stop thinking about the second thread, jongdae hadn’t even thought of that - there was no plan b for a scenario in which minseok truly, really didn’t want anything to do with them. he’ll have to think fast.

“i bet he was, when he saw it linked him to you,” minseok says, staring at his fingers. he’s forgotten about his lunch, and jongdae is worried he won’t have time to eat before he needs to go back to work. “he’s in love with you, you know,” he finally looks up at jongdae like he’s expecting him to be shocked by this. “that entire night, all he did was talk about you, it was cute.”

it takes a moment for minseok’s words to make sense in jongdae’s head, but he’s starting to get the idea of what he’s trying to say.

“it’s not like that, me and baekhyun, we’re just - well, we’re soulmates now, but it’s still different,” jongdae says, gesturing wildly with his hands like he’s making sense, though he’s not sure about that. “i think if you gave this a chance, you’d understand what i mean.”

“i think i understand well enough,” minseok says. “i don’t want to get in between anything, i’ve been there and done that and i’m not putting myself through that again. you guys have a thing, and i’m fine like this.”

it’s ridiculous, because minseok sounds entirely certain of what he’s saying and even a little sad about it, but jongdae is starting to feel hopeful about this because at least he’s a little sad. that means he didn’t necessarily hate the idea of the thread, he’s just got a dumb idea about jongdae and baekhyun that should be fairly simple to erase.

“you have it all wrong,” jongdae says, ignoring minseok’s skeptic look. “you don’t know us well enough to know how we feel, even if you seem to have convinced yourself otherwise. that much is obvious since you sound like you believe you can just tell me these things and i’ll go away. even if i were to do that, which is unlikely, i am pretty sure baekhyun’s ignored my strong recommendation for him to go to class and stop worrying about the thread and is currently tracing it. i wouldn’t be shocked if he suddenly showed up here, honestly. so here’s the thing - i’ll leave you so you can actually eat lunch because i’d hate myself if i was the reason you go back to work without having eaten properly. but i’m also gonna leave my number here, just in case you change your mind.”

he scribbles it down on a napkin trying to make it legible despite his hand shaking stupidly. minseok is looking at him like he’s studying him, trying to make sense of him. jongdae hopes he can see the sincerity in what he’s saying.

“i won’t,” minseok says when jongdae’s stood up.

“i’ll drop by to visit kyungsoo,” jongdae smiles at him, a bit forced but the best he can manage right now. “you can’t avoid me forever, sorry. you don’t have this as figured out as you think, and i can’t let you make this decision for all of us until you see how it really is.”

minseok seems relieved when jongdae leaves, but jongdae feels him watching him walk away, so maybe not all hope is lost. not yet.

  
  
  
  


 

it’s jongin who gets minseok to make the next move, shockingly. 

it’s less awkward than it used to be, hanging out at jongin’s, because minseok’s finally starting to get used to seeing luhan’s belongings everywhere. it still puzzles him sometimes, that jongin was the person at the other end of luhan’s thread, but it kind of makes sense in a way. 

he remembers vividly how much of a betrayal it felt like at first. luhan wouldn’t have even met jongin if it hadn’t been for minseok, and maybe then everything he used to say about how their relationship was stronger than a stupid thread that led nowhere wouldn’t have been challenged. but then minseok’s best friend yixing had asked them to come see his dance recital, and the second they’d walked into the auditorium, luhan’s eyes had gone wide. minseok couldn’t see the thread, yet he could swear he felt it tense around his heart. maybe it had wrapped itself around minseok’s heart at the same time as it had caught luhan’s fingers, hugging it tightly and causing it to crack. now the thread was drawing tighter and tighter, uniting those fragile little cracks into devastating breaks until his heart had shattered entirely.

it hadn’t taken long for luhan’s resolve to ignore the thread to crumble. jongin was nothing like anyone would have expected his soulmate to be like, but the second they’d met, they’d had such an intense connection minseok had known he had no chance.

it’s been a very long time since then, and minseok’s moved on. it may not seem like it, but he worked very hard on it, and the fact that he can be at jongin’s like this right now proves it. yixing’s there too, which always helps, because as over it as he may be, it’s still no fun having to watch luhan and jongin cuddle in that tangled way of theirs.

minseok’s had his phone on his lap the entire time, and it’s definitely not because he’s been expecting jongdae to text him. he didn’t even give him his number, and jongdae did say he’d wait for him to contact them, so it would be ridiculous for him to be waiting to hear from any of them. but the thing is, minseok wouldn’t put it past them to ask kyungsoo for his number or something.

“hyung, you’re gonna burn a hole in your phone,” jongin laughs at him as he gets up from the couch, grabbing the empty bottles of beer. “whoever it is, if you wanna hear from them so bad, you might as well text them yourself, you know.”

minseok frowns at jongin’s back as he watches him go into the kitchen, hopefully to bring more beer. 

“you’ve been weird for days now,” luhan says as he stretches out in the couch. “since i picked you up from that guy’s apartment, actually.”

“ah, so it is a guy,” jongin grins when he comes back, and minseok decides not to kick him because he’s got three more beers in his hands.

“do we know him?” yixing asks, looking up from his own phone for the first time in hours. 

“it’s not about a guy,” minseok rolls his eyes, and technically, he’s not lying. it’s not about one guy, it’s about /two/.

“sure it isn’t,” luhan deadpans.

“i’m just saying, whoever it’s about, texting them will give you control over the situation,” jongin says, sounding so wise everyone gives him a bit of a surprised look. “my sister told me that.”

everyone nods and hums like that’s the only reasonable explanation for jongin being suddenly so smart, but he doesn’t seem offended. minseok looks down at his phone one more time, considering it. he’s not gonna text anyone now, not with luhan still eyeing him suspiciously, but maybe he could do it later. it won’t hurt for him to get to know a tiny bit more about his supposed soulmates.

  
  
  
  
  
  


even after almost two weeks of casually texting both jongdae and baekhyun -separately, because minseok can only handle so much-, he’s not ready to face them in real life. especially not together. jongdae has been trying to take minseok out for lunch again very persistently, but minseok wouldn’t let it happen. baekhyun has been less insistent, which minseok fears might have something to do with how he’d walked out on him in the middle of the night. he still feels bad about that, sometimes.

he knew he wasn’t gonna be able to avoid them forever, and now he’s starting to regret not having agreed to lunch because those would have been better circumstances to meet them. slightly more under his control circumstances, at least. everything about this was so out of the blue, and when he promised yixing to come see his band play he had absolutely no idea yixing’s bass player, sehun, was such a close friend of his soulmates. he wouldn’t have said yes so easily if he’d known - in fact, he’s not sure he would’ve said yes at all. 

his phone vibrates in his pocket and it’s probably yixing asking him if he’s made it or if he needs help with directions. minseok is standing right outside the bar, so he doesn’t check the texts - not that he doesn’t need help with actually going inside, but he doesn’t think yixing meant that sort of help. they’re all probably inside by now, jongdae mentioned them going out like an hour ago, and minseok might have taken extra time getting ready both because he’s nervous and wanted to postpone it and because, well. the fact that he doesn’t know yet how he feels about this soulmates business doesn’t mean there’s not a part of him that’s worried about making an impression. just in case.

it’s fine, he says to himself as he takes a deep breath and steps inside. so jongdae and baekhyun are probably inside. that’s cool. he’s seen them before, he’s talked to them, he can handle them in the flesh. it’ll be no problem. the bar seems big, maybe he won’t even see them right away. he breathes in and closes the door behind him, taking in the place.

it takes him exactly half a second to hear jongdae and baekhyun and honestly, they would’ve been hard not to notice even if he didn’t know who they were. yixing’s band is already on stage, and though their music’s loud, baekhyun and jongdae are being even louder, cheering for sehun like their lives depend on it. it’s kind of cute, as hard as it is to admit it.

minseok can’t decide whether he wants to run to them and finally see them in real life, or hide behind the bar and wait until the show is over and everyone leaves to come out. in the end, he decides to get himself a beer and wait for a song or two before diving into the crowd. it’s a miscalculation on his part, since yixing’s set is almost done so by the time he’s started trying to squeeze into the crowd, the show’s over. the crowd around him starts to thin and he manages to get closer to where he thinks they might be. then music starts playing and people around him are dancing and it’s hard to keep moving forward again.

when he finally reaches them, he stops dead on his tracks and wishes he’d gone for a second beer.

“hyung, you made it!” yixing yells over the music, throwing an arm around him as a greeting. minseok grins in his direction, because right now, he cannot take his eyes off other people.

baekhyun he should’ve expected, because he did meet him at a party and really he’s only seen him at night and like this, with tons of eyeliner and that dangerous glint in his eyes like he’s looking for his next prey. but jongdae - he’s only seen jongdae in broad daylight, looking all respectable and innocent in that blue sweater he wore to lunch, with his glasses and everything. he wasn’t expecting him to be like that in here, but he definitely wasn’t prepared for jongdae with his hair up, wearing a shirt with holes so big instead of sleeves he might as well be wearing nothing at all. 

the fact that he’s speaking or possibly yelling into baekhyun’s ear while baekhyun holds him close with a possessive hand wrapped around his waist doesn’t help. it should be uncomfortable - it should clear minseok’s head of any doubt at all of how little need for him there is in this relationship or whatever there is. it should make him want to leave.

it makes him want to stay.

yixing is saying something but the music is too loud and then there’s sehun coming to steal him away, nodding at minseok. when he looks back, he meets jongdae’s eyes. it sends a shiver down his spine, the way he’s looking at him, and he’s not sure he wants to know why.

“you made it,” baekhyun smiles at him, and it’s the exact same words yixing said five minutes ago but it sounds different. minseok wonders how drunk they are, because it would explain a lot if they were wasted. maybe it’s just wishful thinking. if he can blame the way they are both staring at him on the alcohol, it’d be so much easier.

“we were just gonna go get a drink,” jongdae says as he comes closer, and he has to speak very close to minseok’s face for him to hear him. “wanna come?”

minseok nods, throat feeling suddenly drier than the desert, and he knows right then and there, he probably would have said yes to anything jongdae asked. it’s not that he’s given in, it’s just that he is only one man. a very weak man, as a matter of fact, when it comes to hot guys.

jongdae and baekhyun hold hands all the way to the bar, and minseok tries very hard not to pay attention to that, to any of it, to the little touches they share without even noticing it. he doesn’t succeed. there’s a lot of people around, and when minseok starts to fall behind, baekhyun reaches for his hand with a small smile that nearly makes minseok trip on his own feet. he’s thankful when they finally get to the bar, and definitely ready for a drink or two. or ten.

“i’m driving,” jongdae explains when he catches minseok raising an eyebrow at the coke he’s just ordered.

so they’re not really drunk. that’s interesting. baekhyun offers him a beer and he takes a first gulp a bit too fast, suddenly aware of the fact that he’s voluntarily put himself here, between them, in a public place. it’s starting to look like a regrettable decision. without realizing it, he gets caught up in watching jongdae take a sip of coke because he hadn’t ever noticed his adam’s apple but it’s honestly impressive.

“it’s always a treat to watch him swallow,” baekhyun says, hooking his chin on minseok’s shoulder, and minseok promptly chokes on his beer.

“ah, baekhyun,” jongdae whines, reaching over to pat minseok on the back gently after swatting baekhyun on the shoulder. “you’re going to give him the wrong impression.”

“what would the right impression be?” baekhyun asks like he’s genuinely curious, still catching his breath since he was just laughing very hard at minseok two seconds ago.

“that we want to get to know him,” jongdae says rolling his eyes like it’s obvious, though by now minseok isn’t sure he has any clue of what’s going on here, between any of them. 

baekhyun says something but the music’s still too loud and minseok wasn’t paying enough attention. all he catches is jongdae’s eyes widening a bit before he nods with the kind of smirk minseok knows not to trust.

“jongdae’s not much of a dancer,” baekhyun says loud enough minseok can hear him with clarity. “but since we’re here and we’re not gonna be able to talk much, we could laugh at his dance moves instead? it’s a different way of getting to know each other, yeah?”

minseok hesitates. something feels off about this, like it’d be too easy and fun to just dance and have a fun time, and baekhyun still looks too much like a predator though he’s relaxed a little. but they’re both looking at him like they cannot possibly go dancing without him no matter how much they want to, so he has to say yes. again, only one minseok against two of these, it’s unfair.

what’s truly unfair, minseok discovers about an hour later, is that though baekhyun was right about jongdae’s dancing, it seems like grinding doesn’t require as much skill. baekhyun is good at dancing in general, way better than jongdae even though he’s clearly trying his best, and at first they were all having a good time and being rather silly about dancing in some cases. then jongdae had run his fingers through his hair, styled up so neatly it doesn’t seem to be affect by his constant tugging at it, and there were two pairs of eyes following the movement as he wiped sweat from his throat with the back of his hand. 

from then on, it all started to go downhill.

minseok isn’t sure what he was planning on doing when he decided to come here. he knew he had to, because yixing would be sad if he didn’t show up, and he knew he’d see them and they might want to talk. he’d decided on giving them a chance to talk, but that was the full extent of his plan. having baekhyun constantly getting pushed to his back by the crowd, with jongdae swaying his hips right in front of him, he’s not entirely sure he can remember any words that would sound like a decent conversation.

he thinks back to baekhyun offering that comment about jongdae’s throat a while back, and a thought occurs to him. it’s a bad idea, he knows it from the moment it comes to his head, because they really should talk about this seriously and doing anything other than talking will mess things up. but then again, maybe if they talk they will finally agree with him on how they don’t need him at all and proceed to move on without him, so he might as well take his chances while he has them.

“hey,” he says, not knowing whether to say it to baekhyun or to jongdae, but the second he opens his mouth they’re both coming closer. it’s very, very hot inside the bar right now. “you know what else is a good way of getting to know someone?”

jongdae grins like a kid opening up a christmas gift to find exactly what he’d asked santa for, and he puts a hand on minseok’s waist, pulling him closer. minseok kind of wishes he was drunk so he’d have an excuse for such a light touch to make him feel like he’s been set on fire.

“i have a few ideas, why don’t you come home with us so we can discuss them?” jongdae says very close to his ear, dropping a kiss right under it before pulling away. minseok shivers and that’s enough of an answer for him, at least.

 

  
  


 

baekhyun kisses him hard against the door as soon as they’ve closed it, like he’s picking up where they left off weeks ago. jongdae whines loudly from his bed, something about being left out and baekhyun having already had his turn, but minseok’s brain doesn’t seem to be fully functional at the moment so he doesn’t quite get it. whatever it is he says, it makes baekhyun pull away and laugh. 

it takes minseok a moment to catch his breath, and then jongdae’s coming up. he’s taken off his jacket and minseok’s been wanting to touch his arms since he first saw him in that stupid shirt at the bar. he sees baekhyun throw his coat on his bed and sit on it to unlace his boots, and then jongdae’s tugging at his shirt to get him away from the door. he kisses him all the way to his bed, and it’s so different from baekhyun but just as intense. when jongdae sits on the bed and tries to pull minseok onto his lap, minseok stops him.

“hang on,” minseok says, grabbing jongdae’s hand. baekhyun’s standing next to him with half the buttons on his shirt undone, but they’ve all gone very serious suddenly. it does something stupid to minseok’s heart, seeing how quickly they’ve stopped everything as soon as he hesitated just a tiny bit. but the thing is, minseok has tons of questions about this, and they’re all about how this would work if - well, if there was something that needed to work here. he could ask them, probably, could make both of them sit down, get them to turn all of the lights on and interrogate them on what exactly they are and how they think minseok would fit into whatever it is that they have. seeing how they’re both looking at him right now with their full attention and waiting for him to say something, to tell them what he wants, he knows he definitely could do all of that.

but there’s other things he could do, especially now that they’re both looking at him like that, purely to figure out the dynamics of all of this.

“you should kiss,” he says, as steadily as he can. he doesn’t miss the way they both glance at each other, somewhere between surprised and amused, but this is important. it will help him understand things. it’s for science. 

“for science, huh?” jongdae asks with a chuckle and okay, minseok didn’t mean to say that out loud but it seems to have convinced jongdae so he has no regrets. they’re his soulmates, they shouldn’t judge him for saying dumb stuff. “alright, if it’s for science,” he says, and he’s still got his eyes on minseok when he grabs the hem of baekhyun’s shirt to pull him in.

baekhyun goes easily, climbing onto jongdae’s lap as he kisses him, and if minseok thought he was being kissed hard, it was nothing compared to this. baekhyun threads his fingers through jongdae’s hair gently at first as he kisses him, and then he tugs so hard jongdae whines into his mouth, pulling away just half an inch. he goes back instantly, kissing baekhyun back like he’s going to eat him whole, and it’s all so fluid and casual minseok knows they’ve done exactly this a thousand times before. 

somehow, knowing that doesn’t help at all. jongdae pulls away, putting a hand on baekhyun’s chest to keep him at a distance, and he turns to look at minseok with a pleased smile. baekhyun gets to his feet, unbuttoning the rest of his shirt in the process, and jongdae puts a hand out in minseok’s direction, looking at him expectantly.

“it’s not too late to back out, if you’re not sure about this,” jongdae says, and he sounds earnest even if he’s looking a little desperate. minseok doesn’t need to think about it - the feelings part, they can figure out later. right now, science needs answers, and minseok’s a responsible man - besides being a man smart enough to know he’ll regret it forever if he lets this chance pass him by.

so he grabs jongdae’s hand, and lets himself get dragged into bed.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


the second he opens his eyes, minseok knows it’s late. he has no idea what time it is, but it’s light inside the room which means the sun is up and his plans of sneaking out in the middle of the night have been ruined. he wasn’t too sure about it, but it sucks that he didn’t even get to make the choice to stay while conscious. 

he rolls onto his back and realizes then there’s way too much room in the bed. baekhyun scoots up closer, making needy noises in his sleep as he curls up around him again. he’s so much like a puppy, minseok’s almost tempted to scratch him behind the ears. jongdae’s nowhere to be seen, meaning he’s already awake. minseok knows he’s an early riser like himself, because he actually replies to his eight am texts, unlike baekhyun. it still unsettles him to have slept in, but the thing is, the night before was -- well, intense would be a good word for it.

minseok shifts a little, and there are so many sore spots in his body he can’t help but wince a little. he’s definitely not used to being the one getting wrecked, but he was at a disadvantage last night. jongdae and baekhyun know each other too well, and they were too focused on him, there wasn’t much minseok could do to disagree with that. at the time, he didn’t feel particularly interested in doing anything to deter it either. it was solid choice, he feels, despite the pain in his back and the scratch marks on his chest that will probably take some time to fade.

he’s starting to question whether he could sneak out now, before jongdae comes back or baekhyun wakes up, when the door opens, letting a very cold breeze of air in that promptly wakes baekhyun up.

“good morning, soulmates,” jongdae brightly announces himself, walking into the room and mercilessly rolling up the blinds to let the sunlight in. minseok doesn’t mind it, since he was awake already, but baekhyun moans something unintelligible and hides his face in minseok’s neck. it’s so casual and he fits so well, it’s too early for minseok to be dealing with this. “it’s dreadfully cold outside, but it’s very sunny and we should go out for breakfast.”

he stands by the bed, hands on his hips, and it’s hard to tell because he’s wearing a big coat and an even bigger scarf, but minseok is pretty sure he’s grinning at them because his eyes have gone all crinkly. it’s cute, and minseok can’t help but smile back.

“i hate you,” baekhyun groans, shifting so he can hide his face from the sun, rolling right on top of minseok in the process. minseok isn’t sure it’s as accidental as he makes it seem. “not you, you can stay,” baekhyun mumbles against his chest, lifting his face a little to look at minseok. it’s like he suddenly remembers who minseok is and why he’s lying under him, and his frown gives way to a lazy smirk. “oh. good morning, sunlight looks good on you.”

“come on,” jongdae says, swatting at the back of baekhyun’s neck. it’s mostly gentle, but baekhyun jumps as if he’d been burnt, looking extremely betrayed. “breakfast, i’m starving and i’m buying, so get up and put some clothes on.”

  
  
  
  
  


in hindsight, minseok should’ve known it was impossible for him to leave a bar with two guys without anyone questioning him about it. it still catches him off guard when he walks into yixing’s place and finds luhan, jongin and sehun sitting on the couch, looking very much like they’re staging an intervention. he’s not entirely sure what sehun is doing there, how he met luhan and jongin, or why yixing scoots up so close to him when he joins them on the couch. he files it away to think about later.

they pretend for a bit, talking about work and cracking open a couple of beers, but after luhan is done with his very long rant about how his boss should really just let him be in control of everything, the conversation comes to a stop. minseok shifts in place, feeling everyone staring at him. 

“weren’t we going to get a pizza? you mentioned a pizza when you invited me to this very subtle interrogation,” minseok says after a long moment.

yixing blushes very intensely, and luhan just snorts.

“we’re not here to interrogate you, we’re just curious,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows at him. “yixing here mentioned something about you finding some friends of yours at his gig and i just didn’t know you had other friends besides me.”

it stings, sometimes, when luhan gets weirdly possessive as he tends to do, because minseok used to be entirely luhan’s at one point and he had to work very hard on becoming his own person. he considers telling them about his soulmates, if only to see if luhan would scowl at him for daring to go and get his own soulmate instead of just pining after him forever. it’s a thought he regrets right away because luhan is his best friend and he’s not petty like that, even if he does get jealous of ridiculous stuff sometimes. 

“i’m not sure i’d call them friends, exactly,” he says vaguely, because he’s not quite ready to call them soulmates out loud just yet. 

“oh my god, so you did go home with both of them,” luhan grins like this is the best thing he’s heard in a thousand years, reaching out to slap minseok’s knee. “i didn’t know you had it in you, i think i might be a little proud of my baozi, seducing two guys at once.”

jongin makes a face at that, frowning at luhan’s back like it’s personally offended him. sehun, on the other hand, scoffs as if to make clear how unimpressed he is. again, minseok has no idea who invited this guy.

“been in many threesomes, sehunnie?” yixing teases him, looking up from the hole in sehun’s ripped jeans he’s been picking at since they sat down.

“well, no,” sehun says, sounding slightly flustered like he hadn’t actually meant to bring it up. “but baekhyun and jongdae -- they do that, you know.”

it sinks very slowly in minseok’s brain, what sehun is saying, and he does his best to block the rest of the conversation because he’s pretty sure sehun just said that’s how he met them himself and he needs air right now.

(it had been so nice, breakfast with baekhyun and jongdae. they’d gone to jongdae’s favorite coffee shop, a tiny place right around the block. jongdae had spent a solid ten minutes telling minseok about all the different kinds of coffee they had there, how the best one was a colombian blend and that they sold its beans but he’d never managed to get the same taste. minseok had told him about the barista course he’d taken last year, and jongdae had paid so much attention to him as he talked, minseok had stumbled over every word. baekhyun had ordered their drinks and brought them to the table, burning his tongue on his hot chocolate immediately and then proceeding to whine very loudly about it, demanding to be kissed so it would stop hurting. it had felt natural and right, and minseok’s fear about being left out had disappeared because sitting there, baekhyun nosing at his neck trying to get him to kiss the pain away while jongdae laughed at them, he’d felt like he fit in rather perfectly.

it makes sense now, because they’re probably used to having an extra one. it’s fine, minseok was aware of what he was getting into, and he’s glad he didn’t tell them about the soulmates thing because that was clearly a silly excuse. he had a good time, so that’s what should count, and if he was dumb enough to think there was more to it then that’s entirely on him.

jongdae had looked so stunned when minseok had asked how long they’d been dating for, and baekhyun had been very offended at jongdae finding it so ridiculous for him to be in a serious monogamous relationship with him, but then he’d thought about it and had ended up bursting into laughter himself. minseok had been infatuated enough to think that meant there was room for him -- he should’ve known better.)

“you don’t look so well,” luhan says, startling minseok out of the existential crisis he was having and squeezing his knee a little.

“i’m a bit dizzy,” minseok replies, taking deep breaths. “i think i just -- i need some air,” he adds, getting to his feet. yixing has a balcony, he’s pretty sure of that. he needs to find it, breathe, stop thinking, breathe some more.

he sends baekhyun a text when he gets there, and then he deletes both their numbers. it’s for the best. he knew it wasn’t gonna work, and he chose to have that one experience before he was proven right, so really, it all turned out exactly like he expected in the end. he’s fine -- or he will be, soon.

  
  
  
  


_ 01:12 am _

_ minsoulmateok _

i had fun the other night but its really not gonna work out for me. best of luck to you both!!

  
  


(baekhyun shakes jongdae awake to show him the text, frowning because he doesn’t understand. jongdae sighs and pulls baekhyun into bed, curling up around him and kissing his forehead, the corner of his lips, trying to make them turn upwards but baekhyun is too confused, too hurt. it had all gone so well, he thought they’d made their point, and he’d gotten his hopes up just to have minseok crush them like this. soulmates aren’t supposed to step on your heart like this before they even get to know you. maybe the thread was wrong, after all. maybe he’s been wrong too, and he’s only ever needed jongdae.)

  
  
  


it isn’t so hard, going back to life before having soulmates. minseok doesn’t usually go near the college campus, so the threads don’t bother him much. he’s figured out one of them must work near yixing’s studio because one of the threads gets very tense when he goes there, pulling at his finger as if he’d listen to it again.

other than that, he barely thinks about it. 

he definitely doesn’t wonder all the time which one of them is nearby and making the thread tense while he listens to yixing play his latest composition to him, or what it is that he does, whichever it is, because all they  both talked about were their grad studies and their scholarships. he doesn’t think of jongdae when he makes coffee in the morning, of how delighted he’d been at the thought of minseok showing him how to properly brew the perfect blend. baekhyun doesn’t cross his mind when he hears his neighbor’s puppy yapping in the middle of the night.

he one hundred percent doesn’t stare at the marks on his body that are fading far too quickly -- no, not quickly enough, that’s definitely what he meant.

the concept of soulmates is ridiculous anyway, and he says this to yixing in the middle of him playing a song, interrupting him rather rudely. yixing doesn’t seem startled, but then again, he never does. he just stops playing his piano, turning in his seat to look at minseok like he’s measuring him or something.

“sehun has a soulmate,” he says once he seems to be satisfied with his evaluation of minseok. it’s not what minseok expected to hear, and to be honest, he still doesn’t know exactly what’s going on between his friend and sehun. he didn’t quite bother finding out after the last time they met, mostly because thinking of sehun makes him think of other people he’s trying not to think about. “we’d been -- going out, i guess? for a while, and then the thread showed up last week and it turned out to be a guy from his class he’s been really good friends with since like, last year, his name’s zitao.”

yixing doesn’t sound sad, but coming from him, that’s not a guaranty the story won’t end with his heart getting broken. minseok doesn’t want to hear it, he knows how these stories go because he lived one of them already, but yixing is trying to help and he’s never been able to say no to him.

“it’s been fun,” is all yixing says, and then he goes back to his piano.

“what,” minseok gapes at his back, getting up from the couch at the corner of the studio he’d made his nest in to come sit next to yixing on his stool. “what’s been fun?”

“i’m good with sehun,” yixing says simply, fingers flying over the keys as he tries out a few changes in the melody he’d been playing just now. “he didn’t want to lose that because of the soulmate thing. so we’re giving it a go like that, just -- the three of us.”

minseok is starting to resemble a fish out of water with how puzzled he is about this. yixing finally looks up at him and starts laughing at him, covering his face with both hands. he laughs with his whole body, and usually minseok finds it cute but right now he’s considering pinching yixing’s neck to get him to stop.

“of course soulmates aren’t everything, hyung, we’re human beings,” he says once he’s regained his composure. “out of all the things we do, to think love’s the one that could be predestined -- i get the magic of thinking it’s written in the stars that we’ll find someone, but it’s always sounded a bit ridiculous to me. we have a choice, and if you feel like choosing out of it, then that’s up to you and i don’t think it means anything like, it doesn’t mean you won’t find someone else if you decide you want that. but,” yixing frowns at the keys of his piano, brushing his finger over them as he chews on his lip a little, as if he’s trying to decide whether to actually say the next thing or not. “but i don’t think seeing them once counts as giving it a shot, so if you’re gonna give up on it, keep that in mind. you didn’t actually try, but it’s fine if you don’t wanna do try.”

it takes minseok a while to let all of what yixing said sink into his brain, and yixing as always seems to understand because he stays quiet, playing around with his keyboard until minseok speaks again. yixing is usually very wise, but he’s always very confusing and minseok isn’t sure it has much to do with how even after almost a lifetime he still struggles with his korean. it’s mostly about how his brain seems to work in a different way than the rest of them.

“what if /you/ get a soulmate? what happens then?” he asks, because the story still doesn’t make sense, not even after he’s thought it through, and the life advice he can’t really think about right now.

“oh, i have a soulmate,” yixing replies casually, “it didn’t work out though. i told you, hyung, the thread will show you someone you could share your whole life with, i think, it’s supposed to link you to someone who is perfectly compatible with you at that exact moment, but it’s not infallible. nothing in life is perfect.”

“what the fuck, you never said anything,” minseok says, his eyebrows raised up. he’s not sure how long he’s known yixing for but it’s definitely been what, five years? maybe longer? and he’d never thought to mention he had a soulmate but on second thought, maybe he should be less shocked. it is yixing, after all. 

“when i first met you,” yixing goes on like minseok didn’t just kick him on the shin, playing some cute melody that’s starting to get on minseok’s nerves. “the whole thing with luhan, i didn’t want to give you reasons to keep hanging on to it. it was better for you to move on, and you wouldn’t have if you’d thought there was a chance him and jongin wouldn’t work out.”

at one point in minseok’s life, hearing this would have felt like getting his heart ripped right out of his chest. but it’s been so long, and he’s moved on, and he’s fine. he’s annoyed, and he’s not entirely sure if yixing’s story about soulmates not really working out is supposed to encourage him to stay away from his soulmates, or if he should be giving them a chance. overall, he knows yixing is right -- he would’ve hoped against hope, and he would’ve gotten crushed because jongin are luhan are perfect for each other.

yixing is giving him his gentle smile that means he’s just given him some very important life tip but he knows it’s gonna take minseok a solid two days to figure out what he meant exactly. sometimes, minseok hates him a little for being like he is, but deep down he loves him a lot.

“thanks?” he hesitates, and yixing’s smile grows until minseok can’t help but smile back.

“you’ll figure it out, hyung,” yixing nods encouragingly, tapping minseok’s nose.

minseok scrunches up his nose and laughs, and he’s not sure he will but at least he has the best friends in the world to rely on if he doesn’t.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


for a while, minseok had been worried things at work with kyungsoo might be weird, considering he’d possibly crushed his friend’s heart. however, nothing’s changed so far and minseok thinks maybe kyungsoo isn’t as close with baekhyun as he thought, or maybe he’s just very quietly planning minseok’s death and has decided not to waste his energy on being mean to him since he’s only got a little time left anyway. either way, he’s been perfectly civil towards him and minseok appreciates it.

getting invited to kyungsoo’s birthday party still takes him by surprise. it makes the possibility of him and baekhyun being more like acquaintances rather than friends seem more likely -- or kyungsoo’s planning on murdering minseok at his own birthday party. minseok would not put it past him. the entire firm is going though, so he is gonna have to take his chances.

it isn’t easy walking into a bar knowing he might get murdered. it doesn’t help that he might run into baekhyun either, because at this point he’s not sure which one he’d choose. he scans the crowd carefully, looking for a familiar face with his heart beating right in his throat because any familiar face but one will do. luckily, he finds kris from accounting and he leads him to a table full of people minseok knows and wasn’t scared to meet. 

there’s a couple of people from work, some friends of kyungsoo’s he thinks he remembers from other birthday parties of his. soojung makes everyone move so there’s room for minseok to sit, taking the chance to scoot up even closer to kyungsoo. it was cute at the start, how her and kyungsoo kept toeing around each other and pretending not to be interested when it was obvious to everyone they were head over heels, but it’s been long enough that everyone just rolls their eyes at them when they do this stuff.

a tall guy struggles to get out of his seat right after soojung introduces minseok to the rest of the table and it gives him a bad feeling but really, he doesn’t think the guy even heard soojung. he probably just had to go to the toilet or something.

minseok forgets about the guy for a while. he doesn’t forget about kyungsoo possibly having a secret plan to murder him though, so he makes sure to go get drinks for everyone so he can keep an eye on the bartender, and it turns out to be a brilliant idea. the bartender’s tall and handsome and doesn’t seem to mind having minseok’s eye on him at all. 

he’s about to grab his fourth beer when something yanks at his hand before he can reach it. luckily, the bartender’s reflexes are fast and he saves his beer. minseok misses out on seeing him be a hero and save the day or whatever, because the thread has gone so tense it’s almost vibrating, and it’s tugging at his finger so hard it hurts.

it’s easy to find baekhyun because the thread seems to have gotten brighter in this dark bar, and also because he’s standing right behind him when minseok turns around. he’s with the tall guy from before, who looks rather disappointed in himself.

“we keep meeting like this,” baekhyun says, pointing at minseok with a grin, but it’s not a real one and he’s slurring in a way minseok doesn’t like one bit.

“baekhyun, come on,” the tall guy says, clearly trying to get baekhyun to move but he shakes off his hand when he grabs his arm. “i’m sorry, i was supposed to keep him sober but i didn’t do a very good job,” he apologizes to minseok, and he doesn’t sound too sober himself.

“it’s alright,” minseok offers weakly, not breaking eye contact with baekhyun. he looks infinitely sad, and minseok never meant for this to happen. they don’t even know each other, and no one would have been hurt if it hadn’t been for the stupid thread.

it’s as if him thinking about it wakes it up, and the thread tugs at the finger baekhyun’s pointing at him with, making him stumble forward until he lands on minseok’s chest. it’s being extra insistent, and baekhyun’s balance wasn’t good to begin with, but minseok is quick to catch him.

“fuck,” baekhyun mumbles, looking at him with a frown. 

“baekhyun, we have to leave,” the tall guy tries again, but the thread seems to have shrunk and it offers a good resistance when minseok tries to pull away. it’s gaining personality as time goes by, and minseok hates it. he hates that some stupid magic thing gets to have an opinion on his love life. he doesn’t necessarily hate having baekhyun so close, even if he really wishes he wasn’t giving him such a sad look.

“it’s fine, chanyeol, we just need to talk,” baekhyun says, looking away from minseok at last. he sounds like the proximity has sobered him up a tiny little bit. “we’ll talk and the stupid thread will calm down and then i can go. you should leave, junmyeon’s waiting.”

chanyeol seems to hesitate, and they stay quiet for what feels like an eternity, clearly having some sort of telepathic conversation. minseok wishes he could see baekhyun’s face, but he settles with watching chanyeol’s expression change comically until he seems to surrender to whatever baekhyun’s telling him.

“fine, but call me when you get home or if you need anything,” chanyeol says at last, evidently giving in. he keeps glancing at the door, and minseok wonders if he’s got a thread pulling at his finger, telling him to go. if he’s happy about his thread, if it leads home. 

chanyeol leaves, and baekhyun straightens himself up, leaning on the bar. the bartender leaves a glass of water next to minseok’s forgotten beer, and baekhyun watches him go, sticking his tongue out at him when he’s turned his back to them.

“he’s not that good looking,” he says when minseok snorts, going back to frowning. 

“baekhyun, i’m sorry,” minseok starts saying, but baekhyun frowns even more, shaking his head at him. 

“it’s fine, you don’t want soulmates, i got that loud and clear,” baekhyun interrupts, waving his hand in front of minseok’s face. “i wouldn’t have come bother you if it hadn’t been for the stupid thread, don’t worry. i was fine drinking by myself.”

it really, really, really shouldn’t be disappointing to hear baekhyun’s decided to give up on this so easily. minseok should be relieved. he knows this. 

“why were you drinking by yourself?” minseok can’t help but ask, because he can’t help but worry about baekhyun, even when he looks like having minseok caring about him is the last thing he wants right now. 

“i was coming to kyungsoo’s party when chanyeol said you were here but i couldn’t go home,” baekhyun shrugs, circling the rim of his glass of water with his finger, the thread swirling around as he moves his hand. it’s beautiful, even if it’s ruining everyone’s happiness. “i had a fight with jongdae, so i had to wait for him to go to bed to go back, and then the cute bartender kept giving me free drinks so here we are.”

minseok suddenly feels a lot less fond of the bartender because he should’ve known better when he saw baekhyun moping than giving him free alcohol. or maybe he knew exactly what he was doing, and that thought alone is enough to make minseok mad. baekhyun is too trusting, too stubborn to learn the world isn’t made up only of people who will be kind to him, and minseok wishes he didn’t have to learn that, but he also can’t even think of baekhyun out there by himself, without him or jongdae to watch over him.

“you should go home,” he says gently when baekhyun’s eyes start to close. he glances at the thread, which seems to have calmed down a little. maybe it will let them go, now that they’ve talked. baekhyun looks more tired than sad now, and minseok can’t deal with this right now, or ever.

“jongdae is sad,” baekhyun says, looking up at him. “we decided we were not going to care about a stupid thread after your stupid text, and i wanted to -- i wanted to do something about it, but he said we shouldn’t and it wasn’t worth it and we were better off and i believed him and then he went and got /sad/.”

he says it like it’s the biggest betrayal, and minseok feels it like a punch straight to the heart.

“you don’t understand it but jongdae doesn’t get sad, i’m the one that gets sad and he’s supposed to be strong and smile that stupid curled up smile until i’m not sad anymore,” baekhyun’s voice is starting to break and minseok honestly cannot do this in a public place. he can’t do this anywhere, anytime. “he said we didn’t even know you and then he -- he went dim. he acts like he’s not sad but it’s like when you’ve been on the computer for too long and suddenly you look up and it’s gone dark around you and you’re too lazy to turn on the light, except the light is jongdae.”

baekhyun hasn’t sobered up at all, and he’s also starting to get teary. minseok feels numb, there’s too much to process, and his body seems to be turning against him because everything is starting to hurt. he probably deserves it, considering he’s somehow made baekhyun cry, but he hasn’t even said anything yet and he never meant for jongdae to be sad but he’s torn inside between wanting to make everything better and being mad at not having a choice in any of this. 

“baekhyun, i’m sorry, but i meant what i said and i don’t -- neither of you knows me, this can’t be about me,” minseok says, sounding more desperate than he’d like but baekhyun is straight up crying now and minseok has to fix this somehow. “you need to go home and talk to jongdae and just, fix this between you two, i’m sure you can do that.”

“oh my god,” baekhyun rubs his eyes with the back of his hand furiously, like he’s mad at himself for crying. “you’re so dense, i can’t believe this.”

minseok gasps, incredulously, but he can’t take anything mean baekhyun says seriously right now, not considering he’s trying to glare at him while crying his eyeliner away.

“i can drop you at your place on my way home, come on,” minseok offers, gesturing with his head towards the door. his heart is stuck in his throat, and he has so many feelings he doesn’t even know where to begin untangling them to get rid of them, but first, he has to make sure baekhyun gets home safe.

“i don’t wanna go home,” baekhyun says, eyes going wide. “no, jongdae’s mad and i don’t -- let me crash at yours, i’ll be gone before you wake up.”

that’s very unlikely and minseok can’t think of anything in the world that would be a worse idea than taking baekhyun home right now. literally nothing would be a worse option. he could leave baekhyun under a bridge and it would probably be healthier for both of them. 

but baekhyun looks like a sad, lost puppy, and minseok seems to be very weak for his pleading eyes.

(the thread is glimmering obnoxiously between them when minseok holds baekhyun’s hand to lead him out of the bar. minseok rolls his eyes at it, but it doesn’t seem to affect it.)

  
  
  


the first thing that comes to minseok’s head when he opens is his eyes is that baekhyun looks surprisingly clean faced, considering he had rubbed his make up all over his face the night before. it takes him another couple of seconds to remember how he came to be in his house, and then almost a whole minute to understand baekhyun is indeed standing at the foot of his bed, wide awake and holding a mug of something warm. 

“i would’ve made you coffee but i hate coffee and i don’t know how to make it,” baekhyun says when minseok sits up. “plus i’m mad at you, so i wouldn’t have made it even if i knew how to use that weird machine you have.”

minseok is somewhat relieved baekhyun didn’t actually try to use his beloved espresso machine, but mostly he’s -- well, he’s endeared, but that’s a feeling that must be shaken off right away.

“what are you drinking,” he says, rubbing at his eyes. his voice is always low and raspy in the mornings, he hates it. baekhyun sounds like he’s been awake and talking to himself for hours, and minseok is sure that’s exactly what he’s been doing.

“warm milk because you’re some sort of terrible person who doesn’t have chocolate anywhere,” baekhyun says, clearly disappointed. it’s too early for minseok to deal with baekhyun being cute. also he’s worried baekhyun will get even angrier if he can tell minseok finds him being mad sort of adorable. “honestly, i don’t know how you live like this.”

it’s hilarious that baekhyun, who lives off cup noodles in a tiny campus room, is gesturing so disparagingly at minseok’s apartment, and minseok can’t help but scoff. baekhyun chooses to ignore him, walking out of the room, and minseok gets to his feet quickly in case baekhyun decides to try his hand at his espresso machine after all. tan meows at him from his side of the pillow, and minseok scratches his head gently.

“i know, i know,” he mumbles to his cat, though he does not in fact know anything at all.

baekhyun is sitting on a chair instead of the counter, and minseok counts his lucky stars. he seems to have schooled his face so that it’s set perpetually on a look of disdain, which is rather unsettling and frankly does not suit baekhyun at all.

“did you know you left your phone in the living room last night,” baekhyun says once minseok’s got his espresso machine running. the sound of it alone is enough to wake him up, his body getting ready for the caffeine to properly set him into action. 

“no?” minseok looks around, until baekhyun waves his phone at him, raising his eyebrows.

“you know, i’m not so mad at you anymore,” baekhyun states after he’s given him his phone back. “i was very mad at you, but coming to your house has helped me understand a lot of things about you and now i’m less mad.”

minseok wisely chooses to wait until he’s had a sip of his coffee to gesture for baekhyun to carry on with what he’s saying because he can feel it’s going to be a lot to take in. it’s terribly annoying to be sitting here, talking casually to baekhyun, and having the thread lie there on the table like someone forgot it there. 

“if it had been the other way around, you would have known right away i’d left my phone by your bed, do you know why?” baekhyun asks rhetorically. “because it would have woken you up with all its buzzing. do you know how many times i heard your phone try to get your attention while i slept? none. literally, none.”

there are many things minseok could say in his defense that would be reasonable and they all would make a lot of sense, but he doesn’t think baekhyun is going to hear any of it. he seems to be pretty set on making a point, and he’d rather just let him do that than interrupt him and get stuck in a ridiculous discussion about his social life.

(secretly, he’s a little glad baekhyun is talking to him without looking like he’s about to burst into tears. it’s better this way.)

“i was thinking while i dug through your drawers that only jongdae really got to make a case for why you should give this a chance, and he’s very bright but he may have missed a couple of important points,” baekhyun goes on as he puts his empty mug in the sink and then proceeds to sit on the counter like minseok feared he’d do. he’s a menace, but minseok can’t make himself say anything about it. “let me just say this and i’ll be out of your hair, i promise. also i’m sorry about the drawers thing, i realize now i shouldn’t have said that.”

minseok opens his mouth to reply but baekhyun doesn’t seem to need to stop to breathe between sentences, it’s rather admirable. 

“as i was saying, i’m sure jongdae talked a lot about him and me and how very desperately we need you, which might not be entirely false, but that is clearly not the main reason why you should reconsider your life choices. you live a sad life, kim minseok,” baekhyun says pointing at him, thread hanging in the air between them, but minseok’s frown makes him get flustered though he tries to keep it cool. “hyung,” he adds for good measure, “this house is too clean. do you know what it means when someone’s house is so clean it looks like no one lives in it? it means you are very lonely. we need you, but you need us too.”

“i don’t need anyone,” minseok finally gets to say, his entire face scrunching up as he tries to find better words to defend himself. baekhyun’s clearly wrong, because minseok has friends and he has a life and he is only lonely sometimes, but his place being clean has absolutely nothing to do with it. it’s hard to think when his brain seems stuck on baekhyun saying they need him a solid ten thousand times in one sentence without making a big deal about it, as if it was an understatement. “and i’m not lonely, i have friends, i just don’t like things getting messy.”

“well, it’s a little too late for that, isn’t it,” baekhyun snorts, and it sounds a little too cold for someone who has such a gorgeous, rich laughter. “people don’t need to be in relationships to be happy, but you -- you’re all alone when you don’t have to be, and i don’t think it’s because you want to.”

it started out so strongly and now baekhyun sounds like he’s somehow turned smaller. like he’s worried about minseok, and yet somehow it makes minseok feel like he  ought to take care of him and tuck him into bed and go out and buy him chocolate for his milk. it doesn’t make sense. he needs to kick him off his counter and go back to his normal life before he loses his mind.

“i’m not alone,” he says, and it surprises him to hear his own voice suddenly gone softer too. “i have tan.”

baekhyun laughs at that, and it’s his real laugh, the one that makes minseok laugh along whether he wants too or not because it’s so obnoxiously loud and full of joy that it’s too contagious to resist it.

“i’m telling you to let your soulmates into your life and you tell me you have a cat,” baekhyun laughs, and minseok’s still laughing as a reflex, but some part of him registers baekhyun’s words and knows they’re a bit too real and not really funny. “that’s brilliant, really.”

baekhyun hops off the counter, still laughing.

“i should go now, before jongdae murders chanyeol for not taking me home or something,” he says. he looks at minseok even as he tries to hide by taking a very long sip of his coffee. he really looks at him, like he can see something in him that minseok isn’t aware of himself. “think about it, hyung. i haven’t given up, and jongdae says he has but -- he hasn’t, not really. he wouldn’t be so sad otherwise.”

“i -- “ minseok starts because baekhyun is already at the door and he’s going to leave and he needs to say something before he does so he understands. he needs baekhyun to know it’s not about him or about jongdae, and that minseok is lonely by choice but it makes sense that he is. it’s better like this, baekhyun must hear that. “i just don’t want anyone to get hurt,” is what he says again, and it comes out so tiny and fragile minseok hates himself a little for getting so vulnerable around someone who’s basically a stranger, thread aside.

“again, it’s a little late for that,” baekhyun smiles, and it’s not fake but it’s still a terrible smile. it’s the kind that says he understands minseok is being a coward, and he wishes he wasn’t. “but it’s your own choice, hyung. no one can tell you what to do about this. i’m just saying, our door is still open. it won’t always be like that.”

minseok stares at the door long after baekhyun has closed it behind him. tan meows at his feet, demanding his breakfast, and minseok reaches down to pet his head distractedly. 

“we are good, aren’t we?” he asks, looking down at his cat.

tan bites his hand in response, and minseok thinks he probably deserves it. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


out of all of the oxymorons luhan is made up of, his eternal fear of hairdressers combined with his obsession with his hair is possibly one of the most ridiculous ones. every couple of months, he gets fed up with his hair and with his own inability to get it to look exactly like he wants to and decides to confront his worst enemy. it’s made worse by him never being satisfied with any hairdresser ever, because that means he has to try a new one each time and it’s even scarier when it’s an unknown hairdresser he’s up against.

minseok has always gone with him on these quests, even after jongin showed up. jongin has many great qualities, but great courage isn’t one of them, and the one time he tried he teared up the second luhan squeezed his hand too hard. so it’s always been luhan and minseok against the people with the scissors, and minseok secretly loves that there’s still all these tiny things luhan still needs him desperately for. he kinda wishes he wouldn’t try to crush every bone in his hand when they do this, though. 

this time, however, luhan seems awfully relaxed.

“this is unusual,” minseok says, raising an eyebrow and trying not to look disappointed at luhan not even trying to hold his hand as he leads the way to the salon.

“ah, you don’t know half of it,” luhan grins. “i told sehun about my, uh, problem, and he introduced me to one of his friends who’s a hairdresser and he was super reassuring and not scary at all and i only cried for like, five minutes this morning thinking of doing this.”

“wow,” minseok says, sincerely impressed. it’s nice that sehun is fitting into their little group so well -- he hopes tao will too, now that yixing’s told everyone about him. “that sounds promising, i can’t wait to meet this magical person.”

“you’re gonna love him,” luhan nods. “as a matter of fact, you should totally get something done too, you’ve had the same hairstyle for years, don’t you get bored?”

minseok doesn’t mention how luhan’s actually had the exact same haircut since they met ages ago, because his constant whining about the tiniest details tells him luhan’s a bit sensitive about his hair. just a little.

they’re near yixing’s studio, and minseok is about to bring it up when he feels it. he’d almost forgotten about it for a minute but the thread is right there, tensing up like it always does around here. it’s unsettling, and minseok still doesn’t want luhan to know, so he does his best not to look at it, focusing on following luhan instead.

“here we are,” luhan chirps, stopping in front of a nice hair salon. it looks trendy, like the kind that only hires well dressed hipsters and has a playstation instead of magazines. from the outside, minseok can see there’s at least two girls and a guy working, all dressed in very tight black clothes. luhan opens the door, and minseok puts his hand in his pocket to try and get the thread to stop bothering him.

it doesn’t work, and as soon as luhan steps into the salon, it’s easy to see why the thread’s being so particularly annoying.

“ah, hyung, you came,” jongdae grins, a pair of scissors in one hand and a can of hairspray on the other. “i’m proud you’ve made it this far.”

luhan smiles back, or minseok assumes he does because he can’t see him since he’s hiding behind his back. he can feel luhan tensing up when one of the other hairdressers walks by, and when she stops to say something to jongdae, luhan reaches behind him to grab minseok’s hand.

“i’m the one who’s supposed to be scared,” he whispers to minseok rather dramatically, pulling him from behind his back. minseok’s eyes are trained on jongdae, because he never can look at anyone else when jongdae or baekhyun are around. 

because he’s staring at him so intently, minseok catches the exact moment jongdae notices him. it’s easy to pinpoint because jongdae was laughing loudly and being overall cheerful, and then suddenly his face falls and turns grim.

“this is jongdae,” luhan starts saying, not picking up the change in the mood at all. “the miracle hairdresser who i’m not afraid of -- yet, and this is minseok, my best friend.”

“yeah, uh, we’ve met,” jongdae says, holding minseok’s gaze almost defiantly. it’s like he’s waiting for minseok to say something, to deny what he’s saying even, and minseok hadn’t realized how badly he’d fucked up. or maybe he had realized that, but he hadn’t realized how much he would care when confronted with that reality.

“oh, that’s brilliant,” luhan keeps on saying, and he seems entirely unfazed but minseok knows better. “well then, let’s get to it before i run out of bravado or the tension between you two gets out of control.”

asshole. minseok finally looks away from jongdae because glaring at luhan seems worth it and rather necessary. jongdae, to minseok’s surprise, laughs -- the worst kind of laugh, the one where he throws his head back a little and exposes his throat. minseok has no idea how he could have possibly started to catalog his laughs after having seen him once, but he’s choosing to blame it on his overly tidy brain.

“i didn’t know you did -- this,” minseok says once jongdae’s had luhan sit on a chair. jongdae hums in response, busying himself with lining up a couple of combs and picking up a different pair of scissors.

“did you know jongdae is studying to get a masters,” luhan states matter of factly, sounding too confident for someone who’s growing pale just because someone’s touching his hair. 

minseok did know that, because his brain hasn’t deleted all the information about jongdae and baekhyun it acquired during those two weeks of texting. he knows jongdae is getting a masters in business, and baekhyun in maths. he knows baekhyun works on something that has to do with chaos, which makes sense, and that jongdae has always been top of the class without really trying, which also makes sense.

he also knows jongdae is being gentle and making luhan laugh while he starts to cut his hair, and minseok needs to sit down for a moment.

“to be honest, i signed up for a hairdressing course because i lost a bet and i was drunk,” jongdae laughs, and minseok realizes he logged out of the conversation for a moment and has no idea what they’re talking about. “my roommate thought it’d be funny and he actually made me go and i ended up loving it.”

jongdae moves his hands and the red fiber disappears as he threads his fingers through luhan’s hair. it seems so out of place that minseok’s red thread would end up tangled up around luhan like this, but he’s not thinking about that. he can’t, not when jongdae is keeping luhan distracted by telling him the lamest baekhyun stories ever. he’s never condescending, which minseok recognizes as quite a feat because he’s barely ever seen anyone acknowledge luhan’s irrational fear without making fun of him, at least a little bit. but not jongdae. jongdae is just kind and good at what he does, and the thread sparkles and shifts as he uses his scissors expertly, minseok’s eyes glued to it.

“so yeah, he was kind of forced to let me practice on him since he’d been the one that got me into it,” jongdae shrugs. minseok is only sort of listening, too focused on the thread and on suppressing the feelings he’s getting from looking at it. “it wasn’t so bad, there were some bad fringes and a couple of dyes that could’ve been better, but baekhyun has one of those faces that go well with everything, he never had a problem pulling anything off.”

“he sounds like a great friend,” luhan replies, and minseok is brought back to reality all of a sudden, out of his thread induced trance. 

“he is,” jongdae grins, eyes going soft and crinkly. “he’s my soulmate, actually, so i guess he’s got a lot of creative haircuts in his future.”

“oh, that’s cute,” luhan smiles, but minseok has managed to look away from jongdae’s blinding smile to catch his expression and -- well, he’d figured luhan knew by now jongdae was one of the guys from yixing’s gig, but now he sees the way his eyes go a little wide and then a lot wider, and he knows luhan has figured out something else. “have you two been dating for a long time?”

“we’re not dating,” jongdae is quick to answer, eyes darting towards minseok in the least subtle way. “we’re -- i don’t know, we’ve always been close and i love him, but it never worked like that with us. we tried it once, but it didn’t work out between us as like, a couple.”

it’s rather obvious jongdae’s saying this so minseok will hear, and minseok doesn’t know why this makes him feel hopeful. he’s not hoping for anything here, he doesn’t want anything with jongdae or baekhyun. he decided that already. and yet, he’s paying close attention to everything jongdae says, as if it could make a difference in his already taken decision.

“it’s different for everyone, i guess,” luhan says, and there’s a sort of wicked sparkle in his eyes that makes minseok fear for his life a little. he’s probably figured it all out by now, and minseok should’ve known better than to let him hear jongdae’s side of the story, even if this vaguely told. 

luhan grins at his own reflection when jongdae shows him his finished work, and minseok mirrors his smile, feeling oddly warm inside. jongdae appears to have softened considerably, and minseok can’t help but feel a little relieved when the smile doesn’t fall from jongdae’s face when he says goodbye before they leave. baekhyun may have been right about jongdae not having given up -- and minseok may actually care about that, or so it seems.

“so i have a theory,” luhan says as soon as they’re out of the salon. “i’m gonna tell you my theory, and you don’t have to say anything in response.”

minseok sighs, letting luhan link their arms together and pull him close.

“i think jongdae and baekhyun are your soulmates,” luhan starts saying. he glances at minseok, who has given up on trying to pretend this isn’t happening. “and i think you probably had dumb reasons to not tell me about it and to not be with them, and you’re going to tell me all those reasons when we get back to your place but just for the record, i already think they’re dumb.” 

“alright,” minseok laughs. even in all of this mess, luhan is still exactly like he expects him to be. minseok likes things that are solid, constant. he’s not a friend of change, but maybe it’s time he considers it, keeping in mind there will still be things that will stay exactly the way they always have been. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


jongdae isn’t sure at first how to tell baekhyun about his kind of casual run in with minseok -- only kind of casual because sehun had told him who luhan was before introducing them, so he hadn’t been as caught off guard as he would have been otherwise. after he told him about crashing at minseok’s that one night, baekhyun hasn’t mentioned him again, but jongdae knows that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been thinking about him. it’s still weird to think of bringing him up all of a sudden, but he can’t /not/ tell baekhyun about it either.

eventually, he decides to just handle this the way he usually handles everything and skip all pretenses of being subtle or tactful.

“i saw minseok today,” he says, nudging baekhyun’s hips with his own to get him to make room for him at the sink. baekhyun’s brushing his teeth very vigorously, and he watches jongdae put toothpaste on his toothbrush patiently, probably because he can’t speak through the foam to get him to hurry up. “we may have come on too strong, like. now that i think about it, i guess it makes sense if he was overwhelmed by everything?”

as soon as he’s said it, he sticks his toothbrush in his mouth so he has an excuse to keep quiet. baekhyun raises his eyebrows at him, urging him to go on, and when jongdae gestures to his mouth baekhyun rolls his eyes rather exaggeratedly.

“where did you see him?” he asks, clearly past the point of caring about his teeth, and getting foam and spit everywhere. jongdae makes a face, continuing to brush his teeth. he’ll tell him in a moment, baekhyun can wait for once in his life.

“jongdae,” baekhyun continues whining after he’s rinsed off his mouth, and jongdae has learned how to resist baekhyun’s pout but he’s wiggling his fingers like he’s gonna tickle him and he can’t afford that when he’s in the middle of brushing his teeth.

“he came to the salon,” he ends up saying, doing his best not to spit out all the toothpaste. he fends off baekhyun’s hands with his toothbrush, until baekhyun puts his hands and surrenders.

baekhyun sits on the edge of the bath and waits until jongdae’s done brushing his teeth, only attempting to tickle him twice in the meantime. 

“he was with that friend of sehun’s that’s apparently his best friend,” jongdae says once he’s all done, sitting next to baekhyun though the edge of the bath isn’t wide enough for both of them. “we didn’t talk much, i gave his friend a haircut and that was that but -- yeah, it got me thinking about how maybe i understand it may have been a lot for him, both of us at once. like, not in a sex way, that seemed to go pretty well, but in an emotional way? we could’ve gone easier on him.”

“yeah,” baekhyun agrees, throwing a leg over jongdae’s to keep him from falling off their unfortunate choice of seating spot. “i’ve been thinking about that too, and -- well, if he’s worried about us being a thing, we haven’t been exactly proving him wrong.”

jongdae nods, absentmindedly rubbing patterns on baekhyun’s thigh. it’s cold and yet baekhyun insists on sleeping in his spiderman underwear and a tshirt that was jongdae’s, once upon a time, leaving his long legs out in the open and catching a cold every ten days. in general, jongdae tells him off for it, but he’s secretly a little grateful for it -- not the baekhyun getting sick bit, because that’s not something anyone wants to deal with.

“the first time i talked to him, he said,” jongdae pauses, his hand going still on baekhyun’s knee as he stares at it. it’s stupid, because they’ve got it all sorted out, him and baekhyun. they’ve always known where they stand with each other. he shouldn’t be even asking him this, and he should definitely not be nervous about it, but he can’t help it. “he said he thought you were in love with me. well, he didn’t say that, he literally just said you’re in love with me.”

baekhyun doesn’t say anything for a moment, and jongdae looks up instantly, suddenly worried he may have fucked up and honestly, there was no need for him to say that and he should’ve just kept his mouth shut and baekhyun looks slightly distressed so clearly he should just never say anything else ever again.

“what, you’re not in love with me too?” baekhyun asks, but he doesn’t sound upset at all. if anything, he sounds a little bit confused, like he thought it was obvious. like it’s the only thing that makes sense. and now that jongdae’s thinking about it -- well. he hadn’t really thought about it, up until now, but it does seem to make a lot of sense.

“oh,” he says, frowning. “that’s rather anti climatic, i didn’t expect love to feel so -- i don’t know, natural?”

baekhyun laughs, and in his attempt to playfully shove jongdae while calling him names, he pushes him into the bathtub. jongdae tries to hold on to him before falling back, and there’s a mess of limbs that ends up with both of them in the bathtub, the shower curtain spread over them. they’re breathless from laughing, and jongdae manages to sit up and throw the curtain out. he can only pray they haven’t broken anything this time.

“you’re an idiot,” he says, helping baekhyun get to his feet. “and clearly your attempt at fixing the curtain after that one time wasn’t very good.”

“i knew sex in the shower wasn’t as glamorous as they make it look in the movies,” baekhyun sighs wistfully, looking down at the curtain. “you know what though.”

“yeah,” jongdae says, crouching so he can pick up the curtain and check it isn’t ruined forever. “minseok does look like he’d know how to pull it off.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


it takes him a couple of days, but after a very serious heart-to-heart with luhan, minseok is ready to give this soulmates situation another chance. he’s staring at his phone, trying to make up his mind about whom he should text first, when someone knocks on the side of his office cubicle.

“sorry, i was just -- oh, i thought you were someone else,” minseok says, a bit startled but relaxing once he sees it’s just kyungsoo. 

“nope, just me,” kyungsoo says, and he’s not smiling but he’s not unfriendly either. he’s never been keen on showing feelings at work, but lately minseok feels kyungsoo’s been even more closed off around him. they were getting comfortable around each other until the whole baekhyun thing happened, and minseok is rather sad about it. he likes kyungsoo the most out of all of his coworkers, and he knows him well enough to be aware it’s safer not to be on his bad side. “do you have a minute?”

“sure,” minseok grins, pushing back his chair so he can shift and face kyungsoo. “did you want to talk about anything?”

“you know what i want to talk about,” kyungsoo says, and he sounds so serious minseok stops smiling, straightening up in his chair. “listen, i don’t want to meddle or anything, but we get along well and i just want this to be clear from the start so you know where we stand, alright?”

“okay,” minseok nods slowly, and it’s hard to look away because kyungsoo is staring at him very intensely, but it’s also wildly unsettling.

“i haven’t known jongdae for all that long, but i’ve known baekhyun since forever and he can be an absolute idiot,” kyungsoo starts saying, and minseok did not expect that at all. “but even if he’s stupid, he’s also one of the best people i know, and i know you’re all going to end up trying this thing again -- but this time, you might actually hurt him for real. i’d rather you didn’t, at least not if you can’t help it.”

it’s funny because he’s being very vague and yet, minseok can clearly spot the menace. it’s a serious threat, he would never underestimate kyungsoo when it comes to this.

“i would never hurt either of them in purpose,” minseok says, if only because he feels he needs to at least try to defend himself. “i promise, i just want everything to work out in the best possible way for everyone.”

kyungsoo looks at him in silence for a very long moment, and eventually, he nods.

“okay then,” he says, and minseok can’t help but feel a little relieved. “i’ll let you get back to work then. and if you were wondering, baekhyun sounded pretty stressed out today, he could probably use some time away from his dorm.”

“thanks,” minseok smiles, and kyungsoo does that thing where his face suddenly breaks into a grin and minseok can’t remember why he ever thought he could be threatening anyone. 

“no problem,” kyungsoo shrugs before he makes his way back to his own cubicle, leaving minseok to stare at his phone again until he finally makes up his mind.

(it takes him five seconds to remember he deleted both numbers from his phone, and then an entire hour to gather the courage to ask kyungsoo for baekhyun’s number, but he does it eventually. kyungsoo watches him the whole time he’s composing his first text, and minseok really, really doesn’t want to mess this up -- for many reasons.)

  
  
  
  


as soon as he sees minseok walk into the cafe, baekhyun realizes he made at least six mistakes in what he considered to be his perfect plan up until just now. his initial idea of meeting him at junmyeon’s place was a good one -- it’s a public place, and if minseok breaks his heart again, he’ll have a shoulder to cry on without even having to move from his chair. the thing is, he had to tell junmyeon who minseok is to make sure he wouldn’t panic about baekhyun being out on a date with someone who isn’t jongdae, and now junmyeon keeps glancing at his table every five seconds. he’s gonna stare at minseok’s back menacingly the entire time they’re there, baekhyun just knows it.

there’s also the fact that chanyeol, who seems to live at the cafe, happens to be sitting two tables away and while it looks like he’s diligently working on something with a very big pair of headphones on, baekhyun knows better. chanyeol’s heard all about minseok, just like he always gets to hear everything about anyone baekhyun has anything to do with, and even if he’s not as ridiculously protective as junmyeon or kyungsoo can be -- chanyeol is gonna be keeping an eye on him. it’s not so bad, actually, it’s even a tiny bit comforting to have him there, but when minseok sits down across from him baekhyun feels like he’s led him into some sort of trap.

“hey,” minseok smiles, and he doesn’t look like he’s feeling the hole junmyeon’s probably digging on the back of his neck with the intensity of his glare. “this is a nice place.”

“i thought you might like it,” baekhyun says. it’s starting to dawn on him that he hasn’t actually been alone and sober with minseok under such normal circumstances as being out for coffee, and there’s something strangely similar to butterflies in his stomach now that he realizes this is a lot like a first date of sorts. “it belongs to a friend, and jongdae says the coffee’s good.”

like he’s been summoned by baekhyun mentioning him, junmyeon appears by their table, ready to take their order. minseok asks him questions about the coffee, and junmyeon’s stern look softens as minseok shows interest in beans or whatever. baekhyun doesn’t notice because he’s too focused on watching minseok. really looking at him, because there is just so much to look at.

he remembers seeing minseok at that party ages ago and being so impressed. minseok had a white shirt on with a tiny choker baekhyun remembers quite vividly, and he looked -- well, he looked like he could wreck baekhyun with a single glance, which at the time had been something that had made baekhyun very eager to approach him.

now, minseok’s hair is a mess because he took off the bright pink beanie he had on, and he’s wearing the biggest, coziest sweater baekhyun has ever seen, and he looks like hugging him would be the best thing that could happen to baekhyun in his entire life. it’s a lot to take in, and baekhyun is genuinely scared now because he wasn’t expecting minseok to actually listen to him and think things through and then text him and ask him to meet up, and baekhyun was doing a good job at keeping his expectations low but it’s getting harder with each second that goes by.

junmyeon forgets to ask baekhyun for his order but he still brings him a gigantic cup of hot chocolate, and minseok gives him such a fond look baekhyun is ready to just get up and leave, because it’s honestly infuriating that he gets to be so cute in general and at baekhyun as well, all at once.

for a while, they talk about daily stuff. it’s so easy, baekhyun gets even more scared. minseok asks him about his work, baekhyun tells him about the deadline he’s got coming up, and they just talk like this is normal, like there’s not a giant elephant in the room making baekhyun live in constant panic of being trampled to death by it.

“can i ask you something?” minseok says, and they’re in the middle of discussing the perils of life on a scholarship so baekhyun’s brain knows it probably won’t have anything to do with the soulmates business, but his heart still starts beating extra fast. “have you and jongdae always lived in that dorm?”

so definitely not about soulmates. baekhyun’s heart takes a moment to get the memo and start beating normally again, but eventually, it does.

"kinda, yeah,” he says, thinking back to when they moved exactly. “we met in college, and we were both sleeping at the dorms so we asked to room together during our second year, i think? and we got that room with a private bathroom which at the time felt like something luxurious to have.”

“it is a luxurious bathroom indeed, it’s got a nice bath from what i can remember,” minseok nods along, and baekhyun nearly chokes on his own spit at the memory of his last conversation with jongdae about their bath and minseok.

“yeah,” he says once he’s back to breathing, minseok looking at him with some concern. “uhm, anyway, when we graduated we should have moved out but as a grad student you can rent a place at the dorms pretty cheap, and well. we were living there already, and the scholarship doesn’t pay all that much, and jongdae is saving for his salon and stuff, so we kind of stayed there.”

“oh, sure, that makes sense,” minseok agrees. baekhyun thinks back to minseok’s apartment, how pretty and big it is, and maybe he should feel like he’s judging him or something, but it doesn’t even cross his mind. “so you two have been together for years, then?”

baekhyun makes a distressed noise, and minseok laughs but it’s more of a nervous, startled reaction at baekhyun dramatically dropping his face onto the table.

“come on, we’re doing so well, why do you have to go and say it like that?” he asks, lifting his face and regretting his dramatic instincts because now his nose hurts. “we’re not together, it’s not like that.”

“i’m sorry,” minseok says, scratching the back of his neck. “it just -- it came out like that, i promise i believe you and i’m just trying to get it out of my head, but it’s not all that easy. this thing, it’s not easy at all.”

“it isn’t,” baekhyun concedes, but there’s something about what minseok said that he’s ready to cling onto. “but you’re giving it a chance, right? is that what this is?”

“i think so, yeah,” minseok says slowly, like he’s still figuring it out. “it is, i’m giving it a chance, but it’s terrifying. i wish i had the faith you have in this soulmates stuff, but i just -- i don’t.”

“i don’t have any faith in it,” baekhyun answers, and he laughs at minseok’s surprised expression. “the thread thing,” he starts, lifting his hand and twirling the thread around his finger, “no one knows why it happens or what it actually means, i don’t know why we should believe in it.”

“that’s -- well, it’s definitely not how i thought you’d feel about this, considering everything that’s happened so far?” minseok says hesitantly, biting his lip as he watches baekhyun lift the thread between them. 

“it’s complicated,” baekhyun says, and now minseok is the one laughing. “i know you know it’s complicated, but i mean, i think the science of the thread is probably something beyond complicated. i think it’s probably -- like, i think it’s rather chaotic, and that means i think it’s kind of overrated but also that the reasons people have against believing in it are very off, sometimes.”

“i have absolutely no idea what you’re trying to say,” minseok says, and baekhyun sighs because he has no idea where to even begin to explain this, since half of it is just feelings he can’t put into words. “but i wanna understand, please?”

“people think chaos means a mess, like, things that don’t make sense, but chaos is about things that behave like puzzle pieces, except the puzzle is too big and the pieces are too small,” baekhyun starts, tracing the rim of his cup with his thumb as he talks. “i do that for a living, you know, i try to see the bigger picture using numbers and stuff to understand what pattern things are responding to. it’s pretty boring, actually, because mostly i just do maths, but it’s kind of beautiful knowing that there’s a chance i could untangle something this complex. and the thread -- i think it’s chaotic, because i do feel it must have to do with some sort of giant pattern, but also, i can’t believe we’re predestined to live in a certain way or something because that sounds awfully boring. i think the thread is a part of something big, but since it’s chaotic it can be modified easily by very tiny changes that make us end up in unexpected places. like, humans have free will, so the pattern changes all the time.”

minseok is frowning like he’s trying to make sense of everything baekhyun is saying, though baekhyun isn’t so sure he made any sense at all in his ridiculous rant. he has so much he wants to explain to minseok about why he thinks he shouldn’t feel like he has to give this a chance if he doesn’t want to, but if that’s hard, he can’t imagine how much harder it’ll be to explain why he thinks he still should, even if he doesn’t have to.

“okay,” minseok says at last, looking like he’s still processing it all. “so if that’s how things are, then why do you think -- you just sounded very convinced that this was worth a shot last time we talked.”

“it is worth a shot,” baekhyun nods firmly.

“why? you just said you don’t think the thread means much, if i understood correctly.”

it’s a good question, and baekhyun feels his answer might not be good enough for minseok, but it sure as hell feels good enough for him.

“because i feel it, here,” he says, putting his hand on his heart. he’s being as serious as humanly possible, and he can only hope minseok can see that in his face, that he can understand baekhyun has absolute faith in this beyond all logic, and it’s not because of the thread. “i have a good feeling about this, and i’ve had it through everything that’s happened, so i think that must mean something.”

it’s a lot he’s asking for, after having given his very serious scientific explanation for why the thread doesn’t have to mean anything. he wants minseok to feel this too, and he doesn’t know why else minseok would have texted him again, if he doesn’t feel something along the lines of what baekhyun’s just said.

“i hope it does,” minseok says, and it takes everything baekhyun has to keep his face from falling instantly. “because i feel -- i feel scared, for the most part, but it’s kind of like an adrenaline thing, somewhere between absolute panic and a thrilling sensation? like if i get through the scary part, something great will come after.”

“so basically you took me out on a date to get through the scary part, so you can go out with jongdae after?” baekhyun says, joking like minseok didn’t just make him lose all hope and then reinjected it all back into his heart suddenly, in just one sentence.

“that’s exactly what i’m saying,” minseok laughs, and it’s always amazing to hear him laugh, but this one is a better kind of laugh. more at ease, like he’s gotten something off his chest.

baekhyun pretends to be offended for fifteen seconds, but minseok pulls cute faces at him and it’s too hard to act like he’s not stupidly endeared. he lets minseok walk him home, promising to tell jongdae all about this and to make sure he really is willing to give this a chance. minseok doesn’t wanna risk it now that he knows jongdae tends to have scissors around, and he doesn’t want to rush things once they’re finally starting to work. baekhyun nods along with everything he says, trying not to let it show that he’s utterly impressed by how quickly he’s learned to read jongdae.

they don’t kiss, because it was only a sort of date and there’s still so much that feels weird in the air between them, but baekhyun gives in at the last second and hugs minseok before he gets into the dorms building. minseok stays outside, staring at the door for a very long moment after it’s closed.

  
  
  
  
  
  


texting jongdae is significantly harder than texting baekhyun was, but baekhyun’s rant about chaotic systems was exactly what minseok needed to finally understand what yixing had been trying to tell him that one time, and it’s given him enough courage to actually pursue this with some more intent. baekhyun suggests he takes jongdae out but that they go do something so there’s less room for awkward silences, and minseok struggles coming up with what to do, but eventually he settles on pool. it’s a cliche for a date, but cliches tend to work and he has a feeling jongdae might like it.

as he had guessed, jongdae gets a bit competitive soon. minseok figures it’s a mix of him being naturally prone to it, and possibly also that he’s still a little upset at minseok and beating him feels nice. he’s winning fair and square, and minseok is glad because he wouldn’t have been able to let him win but also he doesn’t think losing would have helped jongdae’s mood. 

“i thought the whole point of taking someone to play pool was to pretend you don’t know how to play so they put their hands on your waist and stuff,” jongdae jokes, leaning over the table and aiming carefully. 

minseok laughs, though getting to do exactly what jongdae said but with his hands on jongdae’s waist sounds like the ultimate best thing that could happen to him. he hadn’t counted on jongdae wearing the tight black jeans he’d had on at the salon, and he’d definitely not foreseen that he’d have to watch him bend over like this so many times. it might be why jongdae’s beating him so easily, because many things can be said about kim minseok, but none of them truer than that he’s a man who knows how to appreciate a good butt. there’s a lot more going on, such as the thread twinkling happily as jongdae tries to wrap it around the cue, and how they haven’t yet talked about anything but pool and what they could have for dinner after this. minseok isn’t usually a shallow person but jongdae leans even further down on the table and he has to close his eyes and pray for a second because someone is clearly testing him and trying to distract him from the other very important things that are not jongdae’s lower back.

“i wouldn’t know, i haven’t taken much people out on dates,” minseok says, shrugging. jongdae looks at him over his shoulder before lining up a shot perfectly, and minseok needs to remember he’s here on important business. his brain needs to get restarted as soon as possible, because he needs it to work properly so he can actually talk to jongdae without accidentally blurting out something inappropriate.

“is that so?” jongdae asks as he walks around the table. maybe if they go get dinner after this and they sit down and minseok gets to have at least two beers, then he might remember what he wanted to say besides congratulating jongdae’s mom for having made him. “are you always the one that’s taken out, then?”

“no, i just don’t go out with much people in general,” minseok says, running his fingers through his hair. jongdae looks away from him and fails his shot, but he doesn’t look too mad about it.

“can i ask you something or are we gonna leave all the talking for after i’ve beat you and taken out my frustration with you on these poor balls?” jongdae says, and minseok focuses on the ball he’s about to hit for a moment, giving himself another couple of seconds before they actually talk.

“sure,” he says, crossing his arms after he’s missed his shot rather miserably. jongdae keeps leaning against the wall like he hasn’t noticed it’s his turn.

“what’s the deal with luhan?” jongdae asks. “there was a weird vibe the other day between you two.”

that wasn’t what minseok was expecting at all, and he’s at a complete loss for words. jongdae and luhan belong to entirely different worlds as far as he’s concerned, and it was hard enough letting luhan know about his soulmates. it seems like it’ll create some sort of paradox in time and space if he tells jongdae about luhan -- the whole concept of him getting his heart broken because of luhan choosing his soulmate over him, it can’t exist in the same plane as him taking his own soulmate out on a date.

jongdae is looking at him and if he was vaguely curious at first, every second that goes by with minseok in silence is clearly making him more expectant, and minseok knows if he’s serious about giving this a chance, he has to tell him.

“we’ve always been best friends,” he starts saying, and jongdae just stares at him. “i was kind of in love with him, for a while. but then he got his thread, and though we tried to make it work, when he found the person at the other end of it there was no chance for us. he was over me as soon as he saw him.”

“but you weren’t,” jongdae states like it’s an obvious fact, which minseok guesses it must be, considering he’d known something had happened between him and luhan just from seeing them for an hour.

“it took me a very, very long time,” minseok says, coming to lean against the wall next to jongdae. 

“but you’re over him now?” jongdae asks, and it hurts more than having to think about his heartbreak that jongdae doubts him on this, but minseok guesses it’s fair.

“i wouldn’t be taking anyone out on dates if i wasn’t,” he says, hoping he can feel how sincere he is about this. 

they look at each other for a while, and minseok is about to suggest they go back to the game or something just so he doesn’t have to stand there anymore, feeling jongdae stare into his soul, but jongdae speaks first.

“i’m kind of tired of being around people so much,” he says, stepping away from the wall and stretching his arms over his head. minseok hadn’t really noticed there were other people around them playing at their own tables, he’d been too focused on jongdae. “and i’m starving.”

“we can go somewhere quiet,” minseok offers.

“i’ve never been to your place,” jongdae says, leading the way towards the exit while he puts his jacket back on. he seems so sure of what he’s doing minseok figures he might as well just let him lead. it’s the same determination he showed when he appeared in minseok’s life the first time, telling him they were soulmates as a manner of introducing himself, and it makes minseok want to follow him anywhere when he acts like this. 

“you haven’t met my cat,” minseok smiles, and something relaxes in him when jongdae smiles back. he’s seemed rather tense the whole evening, like he was constantly worried minseok might take off and leave him stranded at any minute, but his shoulders are starting to relax and minseok is extremely relieved. 

“i can make us dinner,” jongdae says, holding the door open for minseok. “the dorms have access to a kitchen but it’s a terrible kitchen, i miss cooking like a grown up.”

“promise you won’t set anything on fire?” minseok asks, raising an eyebrow. even though he isn’t quite sure he can trust jongdae around a kitchen, right now, he’d let jongdae do anything he asked if it meant he’d keep on smiling like this at him. 

“please,” jongdae rolls his eyes, huffing like he’s been mortally offended. “i’m not baekhyun, i know my way around a kitchen better than most people, i’ll show you.”

it’s terribly cute, the way he says that, and minseok can’t help but laugh. he sees jongdae stare at him with something that looks like fondness, and if he’d had any doubts about giving this a shot, the warmth spreading through him tells him his heart has already decided for him.

  
  
  
  


turns out, jongdae does indeed know his way around a kitchen, and he lets minseok chop onions because he won’t stop fretting about, but by the time he’s done with it jongdae’s already stirring something that smells delicious in a wok, humming to himself like this kitchen is his and nothing is new or weird about this. tan keeps brushing against his legs, clearly attracted by the smell of food, and minseok thinks he does indeed look like he belongs here.

they have dinner and jongdae doesn’t bring up luhan again, or the thread, or baekhyun. he tells him about his dream salon, and minseok helps him figure out how to solve some space issues. they end up on the couch, minseok drawing a sketch of jongdae’s salon and where everything should go to suit his lifelong dreams but also making sure it’s functional, and jongdae is so excited about it he takes a picture of it and sends it to baekhyun, and that makes them go really quiet once again. 

minseok is starting to get a good feel of how this might work -- baekhyun isn’t here with them, but he is in a way. even if they’re not talking about him, he knows jongdae has him ingrained deep in his skin, and the truth is, he can’t get him off his mind either. he doesn’t need to be with them to be /with/ them, and it’s nice seeing how that works from this side because if it’s like this, then maybe it won’t feel like he’s being excluded when baekhyun and jongdae are together, without minseok. maybe he’ll be with them as well, like this. maybe he already is, judging from how they’ve all seem to have tuned into the same wavelength slowly, without noticing.

“your cat loves me,” jongdae says, scratching tan between his ears while the cat purrs happily. minseok has never felt jealous of a cat before, but there’s a first time for everything. it’s getting late, and tan seems to know this because he gets up, stretches, and makes his way to his basket. “i’m glad i got to know him, baekhyun was very excited about him.”

minseok nods, his mind elsewhere, and he’s still working out his deep feelings on this complex thing that’s building up around them so he doesn’t notice jongdae scooting up closer until he’s practically glued to his side.

“so listen,” jongdae starts, and minseok had finally stopped thinking about shallow things but it all comes back rushing in when he feels jongdae’s breath on his neck. “baekhyun said you thought we should give this a try, and i think -- i think we ought to. i think we owe each other that much, all of us, because we kind of fucked up when we started out, so we should give it a real shot, try to get things right.”

minseok nods shakily, and he’s pretty sure this is all leading up to jongdae getting up and leaving, saying something about taking things slow because that would make the most sense and clearly he’s just teasing him to torture him because he deserves it. it’s fine. he’ll take it, he can handle it. or he might die, but that’s alright at this point.

“i want to,” minseok manages to get out. “i wanna try, if you’re both -- if you let me, i think you’re right and we should try and see how it works. slowly, yeah?”

“sure,” jongdae nods, but he’s got his nose buried in minseok’s neck and he can feel him say it against his collarbone more than he can actually hear it. “slow sounds good, lots of feelings to unpack and figure out and all that here,” he says, and minseok thinks he deserved some teasing but jongdae pressing open mouthed kisses on his neck might be overdoing it a bit. “but you know, i think we’re past the point of taking it slow in some senses, and i also think it’s rather unfair that baekhyun got to be with you on his own and i didn’t.”

“when you put it like that,” minseok breathes out, but jongdae’s got a hand on his thigh and any sort of argumentation he could have had against it has been thrown out of the window. it’s not like he hadn’t been thinking of this since jongdae first showed up looking like sin in tight pants, and jongdae is making a very good point. baekhyun and jongdae have probably slept together more times than they can count, and it’s only fair for everyone that he gets to experiment this on his own with jongdae. just to be sure. 

“sex isn’t everything but it matters to me,” jongdae keeps saying, sounded much more level headed than minseok feels at the moment. he’s not sure when jongdae threw his leg over his lap, but he’s suddenly got a kim jongdae straddling him and paying attention to what he says is hard. “imagine if you’re actually just into baekhyun and that one time was fine because he was with us, that would be absolutely terrible. we could find a way around it, i’m sure, but i’d rather know what i’m getting into, wouldn’t you?”

minseok is very impressed by the level of bullshit jongdae is managing to come up with, as if he’d needed any convincing or as if there could have been any doubts about this part of minseok’s feelings towards him. he values the effort though, and mostly he values how jongdae nearly purrs when minseok’s hands go down his back and grab his ass at last. 

“you haven’t seen my bed yet,” minseok says, looking up at jongdae when he puts his hands behind minseok’s head, threading his fingers through his hair. “what a terrible host i’ve been, not giving you a full tour.”

“there’s still time for you to fix that, don’t worry,” jongdae grins, and then he’s leaning in to kiss minseok hard, pressing him against the couch, and minseok highly doubts they’ll ever make it to bed, but he doesn’t think he minds.

  
  
  
  
  
  


_19:16_   


_baekhyun created the group "cbx"_

_baekhyun added you and jongdae_

_ 19:16 _

_     baekhyun _

                    dearly beloved

we are gathered here today to set up a lunch date

 

_ 19:17 _

_ jongdae _

why is this group called cbx

is the b for baekhyun

_          19:17 _

_               baekhyun _

                         no

              give me some credit bro

_ 19:28 _

hey :D

_         19:28 _

_   baekhyun _

             MINSEOK

        hyung

        finally

         as i was saying then we should have lunch

                             and like

talk

  jongdae can cook

_ 19:29 _

_ jongdae _

we dont have a kitchen

_ 19:29 _

     _baekhyun_

i know right if only one of us had a kitchen

_ 19:30 _

_ jongdae _

baekhyun

_ 19:30 _

_     baekhyun _

      jongdae

_ 19:31 _

you can come to mine :D

but really why is it called cbx

_ 19:32 _

    _baekhyun_

    well since u asked nicely

          the c stands for chen

                   bc jongdae’s salon is so fancy hip and trendy 

                                        they have artistic names

didnt u know

_ 19:33 _

O______O

he didn’t tell me!!

_                     19:34 _

  _jongdae_

                im going to murder u :)

_ 19:35 _

i think it’s cute :D

        _19:35_

  _baekhyun_

                 he just

           how is that

 ANYWAY

     can we go tomorrow for lunch

_ 19:38 _

sure

so what about the x

        _19:38_

_  baekhyun _

      thats u

          bc we had to find u

_ 19:40 _

and the b is for baekhyun?

  _19:40_

_  baekhyun_

                                                                    ur not gonna say thats cute

                                   fine

                              and no

       the b stands for bae ;)

_ [jongdae has left the group] _

  
  
  
  


“when you invited yourselves over, i kind of expected you would bring like. something food related with you,” minseok says from the couch where he’s sitting with baekhyun while jongdae goes through his drawers making frustrated noises. baekhyun has been losing staring matches with tan since they got here but he seems determined to win at least once.

“we did think about it,” baekhyun hums, and then he gives minseok an apologetic, very bright smile. it’s hard to resist him even when he’s not trying, minseok has discovered. “but we couldn’t decide on what to get.”

“you know what would be fun?” jongdae says, emerging from somewhere under minseok’s kitchen counter, looking slightly disheveled from all the digging around. “if we went grocery shopping,” he smiles, though he’s clearly annoyed and putting up a front, and it’s cuter than it should be.

“alright,” minseok agrees easily. it’s a saturday and it’s barely twenty past eleven or so, there’s no rush and he feels amazingly at ease with both of them. he always did feel like this around them, if he thinks about it, but after everything he was worried it might be different this time around, and yet it’s just as natural. the only new thing is he’s more willing to accept it now. “there’s a store round the corner.”

baekhyun spends the elevator ride and then the walk to the store texting frantically, and minseok nudges jongdae slightly, raising his eyebrows to ask silently about it.

“oh, he’s postponing a thing,” jongdae says, gesturing vaguely like it’s not important. “a game thing -- you know he’s a bit addicted to LoL and he has this group and they play like, three nights a week or something.”

“i didn’t know that,” minseok says, turning to look at baekhyun who stays engrossed by his phone for another two minutes before he finally realizes they’re standing by the market’s store and minseok is staring at him, giggling quietly. 

“sorry,” he says, blushing and scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “it’s uhm, it’s a bit addictive, and i’m a key piece of the group, see, they don’t wanna even try playing without me.”

“he has never won,” jongdae says under his breath as they follow baekhyun into the store. “literally not even once.”

minseok can’t keep his giggling quiet anymore, and baekhyun squints at them like he suspects he’s been betrayed. 

they grab a cart which baekhyun won’t let anyone else touch, throwing himself over it before jongdae can even reach for it. it works best like that, because it becomes evident soon enough that baekhyun must be kept busy so he doesn’t try to sneak ridiculous stuff under jongdae’s reasonable shopping. minseok was pretty sure he was rather good at adulting but seeing jongdae pile up vegetables in the cart is making him doubt himself.

he ends up making pancakes with carrots and prawn and baekhyun keeps minseok from telling him off when he sits on the counter by making out with him until jongdae notices and whines for them to break apart. they don’t really talk about much until they’re sitting at the table, jongdae looking awfully proud of his meal. minseok hopes he knows he can come whenever and use his kitchen, since clearly it’s a win win for everyone.

“so the mechanics of this, right,” minseok starts when they’ve all started eating, and both his soulmates suddenly look up at him, forgetting about their food.

“we’re on board, all of us? that’s like, the first thing we gotta be sure about,” baekhyun says, taking turns to look at each of them very intensely.

"yeah,” minseok says and god, he’d decided he was gonna give this a shot a couple of days ago but actually saying it loud gives him shiver. the good kind, though, like he’s finally being courageous about this.

“yes,” jongdae nods, making minseok breathe out in relief. he knew he’d say yes, but still, it’s nice to be certain.

“good, me too, obviously,” baekhyun says, and it’s like hearing both of them finally say yes turned the switch on that powers his brightest smile and it’s almost blinding minseok. it’s gorgeous, how happy he is about this. 

“i thought of a couple of things we should talk about,” jongdae starts hesitantly, but when they both look at him expectantly he gets a bit braver. “like, me and baek, we’ve always been very open about like. other people. but i think maybe we have enough on our hands with the three of us and we should at least start off trying to keep it between us? like, being exclusive, not like, keeping it a secret. until we figure ourselves out, and then we can discuss it if we wanna keep it like that or not.”

baekhyun nods along as he speaks. the truth is, minseok hadn’t even thought of doing it non exclusively, but he likes that jongdae is being so clear about it and that knowing there’s always going to be a chance to talk things over if things between them shift in any way -- it’s a good feeling, like there’s room for the relationship to grow in more ways than he’d imagined.

“alright, that sounds good,” minseok says, glancing down at his plate of pancakes thoughtfully as he tries to come up with other things that should be cleared up before they put away their food and just go make out like he’s been expecting.

“and -- well, there’s the fact that we live together, and that could be weird,” jongdae says, glancing at baekhyun shortly. “but, you know. your place has a kitchen. i think the real problem here might be if you enjoy your privacy and your alone time together too much, because we might end up being here all the time so you should probably tell us now.”

“oh no,” minseok shakes his head fervently, like he hasn’t always been a huge fan of keeping his space for himself. it doesn’t feel like he’d mind if it was them, though. “i mean, i’d rather not be here by myself while you’re home together, if i’m being honest.”

“yeah, i thought about that,” jongdae says. “and, well. you have a kitchen and a big bed,” he adds, laughing a little, and minseok can’t imagine himself ever not wanting to have them around. both of them. it’s kind of ridiculous really, how fast he’s gone from not wanting to hear anything about the soulmates thing to being so attached. 

“so basically, we’re gonna date? exclusively, and we get to hang out here all the time? and it’s not gonna be a secret or anything dumb like that,” baekhyun sums it up, saying the last thing with conviction as if he’s daring anyone to say otherwise. as if minseok would ever want to keep them a secret -- it almost offends him, but he gets it.

“that’s the plan, yes,” minseok grins.

“can we make out now if everything’s settled?” baekhyun asks, and jongdae reaches over the table to push at his shoulder softly. 

“finish your food first, byun baekhyun, i didn’t spend all that time cooking while you two kissed for you to skip on lunch,” he whines, and baekhyun wails loudly but he goes back to eating with no further complaint.

minseok looks down at his pancakes, and eventually goes back to finishing his own plate as well. even if he’s eager, there’s no rush for anything -- they have a lot of time ahead.

  
  
  
  


it takes them a while to find a rhythm, but eventually, they start to fit into each others’ lives.  jongdae doesn’t have a lot of free time, with the salon and his studies, but he drops by minseok’s place at least three times a week to make dinner. sometimes baekhyun is there -- his schedule seems to consist of attending a few classes here and there and then sitting in a corner and tearing his hair out while he scribbles on notebooks, and he can do at minseok’s much more comfortably than at his room, it seems, judging from how often he rings his doorbell. minseok works office hours, but sometimes baekhyun shows up early in the morning before he leaves for work, claiming minseok’s place is much quieter than their dorm. minseok has no complaints, honestly. he found it weird the first time, and then he’d been very nervous about it because he’d got stuck at work for longer than he’d planned. getting home to find baekhyun asleep on the couch with an old episode of some drama playing in the tv and tan curled up on his lap, while jongdae made dinner in the kitchen -- it had been the best evening minseok could have imagined. 

(he’d been a step away from just giving them keys right then and there, but it would have been crazy -- probably. he wasn’t sure about that yet.)

they spend the first couple of weeks doing stuff at home, so when jongdae texts him to see if he wants to go for coffee with him, minseok is thrilled but also a bit nervous. when jongdae tells him where to meet him, he forgets about being thrilled and jumps straight into being very anxious because it’s like none of his soulmates know of any other coffee places but the one that belongs to that one friends of theirs that looked at minseok with rather unkind eyes the last time they met.

jongdae is already there when minseok arrives, typing away at his computer and looking very hot with his glasses that minseok is pretty sure he doesn’t need at all. there’s someone else at the table, but they have their back to the window so minseok can’t see who it is until he’s already entered the cafe.

he has a vague memory of the guy, and it takes him a moment to place him, but when he does it takes a lot for him to not turn around and run off. jongdae has seen him already and is gesturing for him to come closer, and the guy -- chanyeol, minseok is pretty sure that’s his name -- is getting up from the chair, which is a relief. at least he’s not staying.

“hey,” jongdae greets him, and minseok does an awkward sort of wave that has his soulmate rolling his eyes at him. when he’s close enough to the table, jongdae grabs his hand and pulls him forward to kiss him, and minseok would resist except he doesn’t really want to. it’s nice and it makes his heart beat twice as fast, even if chanyeol is right there looking at them. “i think you’ve met chanyeol, right? this is minseok hyung.”

“hi hyung,” chanyeol smiles, and he doesn’t look like he’s about to clock minseok on the face. actually, he looks happy to see him. just, plain happy. it’s weird and minseok isn’t sure what to do about it. “i’m glad to meet you under uhm, better circumstances.”

“yeah, same to you,” minseok smiles back. 

“and i’m glad you worked things out, all three of you,” chanyeol keeps on talking, more seriously now. “i worry about baekhyun a lot, but he seems so happy these days, it’s been nice seeing him like this.”

“yeah, yeah, we get it, he’s your favorite and i’m just a backup friend,” jongdae waves chanyeol away, looking sulky. “now please go see if your boyfriend has any plans to bring us coffee and let me enjoy my date.”

chanyeol laughs, loud and deep, and he leans forward to press a kiss to the side of jongdae’s head. 

“you’re cute when you’re jealous,” he says, and minseok wonders if maybe he should be jealous right now, but his heart is too at peace. 

after chanyeol leaves, jongdae is still pouting like an offended child, and minseok has to lean over the table to kiss it away. he can’t help it when jongdae is being cute, and the way he brightens up when he’s pulling away makes him want to kiss him again. 

“i’m sorry about that,” jongdae says, now with a smile quirking up the pretty corners of his lips. “chanyeol can be a lot, but he’s been baekhyun’s best friend since they were born, they’re sort of a package deal.”

“why did you bring me here then?” minseok asks with a giggle, because he can see straight through jongdae sometimes, and this is particularly easy to guess. “i mean, he must be here a lot, if he’s dating someone who works here.”

“junmyeon actually owns the cafe,” jongdae says, though he looks like he’s been caught. “i thought it’d be nice if you made peace with chanyeol and junmyeon, they’re really important to baekhyun and i know it’s been weird every time you guys have seen each other so far.”

“that’s a nice thought,” minseok smiles. he’s constantly impressed by how plainly kind and thoughtful jongdae is at all times, he’s such a warm person minseok can’t help but feel like he needs to get closer. “so kyungsoo, chanyeol and junmyeon are baekhyun’s friends, then? what about you, i haven’t met any of your friends.”

“sure you have,” jongdae says dismissively. “for starters, chanyeol and junmyeon are also my friends by transitivity. kyungsoo probably likes me more than he likes baekhyun. and you met sehun. you haven’t met tao yet, right? you should, he’s adorable though his korean is still a bit rusty. and you went to the salon so you met everyone there.”

“isn’t it kind of ridiculous how all our friends are sort of connected?” minseok asks, and jongdae just wiggles his little finger at him, the thread waving in the air like it’s taunting him. minseok giggles, catching jongdae’s finger with his hand. “okay, fair. i guess there’s a tiny hint of fate at work here, or something.”

“or something,” jongdae nods, shifting his hand so he can lace their fingers together. 

junmyeon shows up with coffee before they’ve even ordered, because he’s apparently very excited about this new blend they’ve bought. minseok was aiming for acting cool but when junmyeon says he really wants their opinion because they know their coffee he’s so ridiculously proud he loses all semblance of coolness right away. it makes jongdae grin that smile that makes his eyes disappear, so it’s alright.

“oh, thank god,” a voice says, and suddenly baekhyun is pulling up a chair and dropping his face on the table.

“rough day, baekhyunnie?” jongdae laughs, reaching out with his free hand to scratch the back of baekhyun’s neck.

“i’m going to die,” baekhyun announces dramatically without moving. he can’t be breathing properly, not with his nose smashed against the table like that, but he doesn’t seem to have any plans to ever move again. 

“did you see your advisor today?” minseok asks, amused and slightly concerned all at once.

“here’s what i’ve been thinking,” baekhyun says, finally lifting his face from the table. his nose is red and minseok kind of wants to kiss it. he meets jongdae’s eyes accidentally, and laughs when he sees that exact same thought practically spelled out on his face. “since you two are rich and successful,” he starts, putting his hand over jongdae’s mouth when he starts to protest, “and i’m clearly the weak link in that aspect but also really cute and a very good boyfriend, maybe i should just be your trophy husband.”

minseok is already laughing, but then jongdae bites baekhyun’s hand and makes him recoil and minseok can’t breathe for a second. they’re so ridiculous and loud and he loves them -- maybe. probably. he’s not ready to give much thought to that, except now that baekhyun is begging for him to kiss his injured hand he thinks there isn’t much to analyze here.

“are you proposing then?” minseok asks after pressing a soft peck to baekhyun’s hand. he’s still got jongdae’s hand tightly held on the other side, and it all fits so perfectly together he can’t believe he denied himself this for so long. 

“marriage is a ridiculous institution,” baekhyun rolls his eyes. “trophy boyfriend, then. i’ll devote all my time to making sure i look the most gorgeous i can manage and you two can work and make money to feed me and stuff.”

“how about i get you some hot chocolate instead?” jongdae intervenes, getting up from his chair and letting go of minseok’s hand. minseok absolutely does not pout at the loss of warmth. “and then we can discuss your future as our boytoy or whatever, when you’re feeling better.”

“i said trophy boyfriend, not freaking boytoy,” baekhyun yells after jongdae, and minseok dissolves into a fit of giggles, hiding his face in his hand because he may apparently sort of kind of love them but they can be slightly embarrassing.

baekhyun settles down while jongdae is gone and gets himself together enough to actually tell minseok about his meeting with his advisor, which wasn’t as terrible as he’d made it sound. from what minseok’s gathered so far, she’s a pretty lovely lady who puts up with baekhyun better than most would, and baekhyun can be a little melodramatic, especially when he’s stressed. 

“here, baby,” jongdae says, putting a steamy hot chocolate in front of baekhyun.

“you missed my story about my lyapunov exponent that wouldn’t cooperate,” baekhyun says, putting his hands around the cup to warm them up. he looks slightly less desperate now, and more like a puppy that’s finally gotten his belly scratched but knows better than to look satisfied too soon.

“you can tell me about it later, get your mind off the numbers for a bit now,” jongdae smiles, leaning over the table to press a kiss to baekhyun’s nose. 

“are you going to be gross all the time now because we do have a strict admission policy here, you know,” chanyeol says as he walks past their table on his way out, scrunching up his nose in disgust.

“right, because your constant use of the plural like you and junmyeon are one person isn’t gross at all,” baekhyun says, sticking out his tongue at him. 

chanyeol shakes his head at him and walks away, though he’s smiling a little to himself, like he’s trying not to but can’t help it. it’s nice, how much their friends love baekhyun and jongdae. it makes minseok miss his own friends, who he has been neglecting a little lately.

“so, what are we making for dinner tonight?” baekhyun asks, clearly cheered up by getting to stick his tongue out at someone.

“we?” jongdae bursts into laughter, and minseok follows suit, laughing quietly. baekhyun kicks at both of them under the table, sulking into his chocolate when they won’t stop laughing. minseok takes deep breaths to calm himself down while jongdae wipes tears away from the corners of his eyes.

baekhyun demands kisses to make up for how badly they’ve offended, and as they take turns to kiss his cheeks, minseok once again catches himself thinking this seems much easier from upclose than it did when he was looking at it from a distance, and maybe -- maybe it really will work.

  
  
  
  


it’s a warm sunday at the beginning of spring, and minseok can’t imagine a more perfect day to be sweating buckets under the sun, running after a football. luhan calls his name from somewhere to his right, and minseok avoids the accountant from luhan’s company easily enough, glancing quickly towards luhan before passing him the ball.

there’s some very loud cheering from the sidelines, that turns even louder when luhan scores a goal. minseok is standing in the middle of the improvised field, hands on his sides as he breathes heavily, and his cheeks hurt from smiling so big. he hasn’t scored even once, and luhan keeps glaring at him because he keeps getting distracted and he’s definitely not playing his best game, but he could not care less. not when jongdae and baekhyun are ruining their throats yelling and jumping like they are watching some intense match instead of some guys from luhan’s office trying not to get tangled up in their own legs while luhan basically dominates them all.

minseok turns to look at them and they go wild as if he was some sort of celebrity that’s acknowledging them, waving excitedly. baekhyun slaps jongdae’s shoulder and it makes him whine so loud minseok can hear him from the other side of the field. 

“what are you laughing about,” luhan sulks as he walks past him. “you almost lost the ball there, to that guy from accounting that’s so bad at this i can’t even remember his name.”

sometimes minseok forgets how important football is for luhan, even if it’s a silly thing among friends like this. it’s cute, but kind of scary. jongin is also sitting at the sidelines, sharing the blanket jongdae had brought with him, but he hasn’t said a word the entire game. he knows best, clearly.

“they’re cute,” the accountant says when he’s greeting minseok after the game’s ended. they won, but only because luhan would have murdered everyone if they didn’t. minseok is actually a little scared for his own life, considering at one point he almost scored against their own team because baekhyun decided to sit on jongdae’s lap to get a better view of the field. 

“what,” minseok says, caught off guard, but then he follows the guy’s eyes and sees baekhyun helping jongdae pack his blanket and his picnic basket and. yeah. they really are cute.

“your boyfriends, i mean. they’re cute,” the guy says, patting minseok’s back before walking away.

“ah, thanks,” minseok says but he’s gone already. he looks back at them and finds a sulking luhan with them. baekhyun is hyped up and nearly shouting at him, which worries minseok, but as he comes near them he realizes baekhyun is actually just praising him and even though he clearly knows nothing about football, it seems to be working for luhan.

“next time try not to start making out or whatever because some people cannot keep their eyes on the ball if you’re doing that,” luhan says, the corners of his lips slowly starting to tilt upwards like he might actually be remembering he enjoys football and winning isn’t everything and all that. jongin has an arm around his waist, keeping him close. it’s nice how they fit together, how jongin knows luhan must be comforted even if they literally just won.

“can’t make any promises,” baekhyun says, a devilish glint in his eyes that makes luhan frown at him again, so jongdae hurries to intervene.

"we’ll try our best,” he says, putting on his most charming smile. he spots minseok then, and he drops the arm he had around baekhyun to pull him into a hug instead. “hi baby,” he whispers very quietly against his ear. 

(minseok wasn’t too keen on the pet names jongdae apparently cannot stop using, but they found out soon enough if he whispered them into his ear with that low register of his, minseok would be fine even if jongdae was calling him the most terrible things he could think of.)

baekhyun says, “you did so well” at the same time jongdae pulls away to ask if he had fun, and then they’re both talking over each other and grabbing minseok and luhan watches him get dragged away with a real smile now. it’s such an honest smile that it looks almost like there’s more to it than just football, so minseok untangles himself from both his boyfriends’ arms and goes back to him. jongin catches the hint and busies himself with grabbing luhan’s stuff.

“i’m really happy for you,” luhan says after a moment of just looking at each other. it’s the first time in so long they’ve discussed any sort of feelings, and it’s wonderful to feel it’s no longer dangerous territory. minseok realizes now, that’s probably wonderful for luhan as well.

“i’m sorry i haven’t been the best of best friends recently, after -- everything,” he says, and luhan shakes his head.

“it’s alright, i hurt you and it got messy, but. i think we’re good now, right? and you seem like you’re gonna be better than you could have ever imagined with those oversized puppies of yours,” luhan says, gesturing towards baekhyun and jongdae who are staring curiously at them from a distance.

“yeah, we’re good,” minseok grins, and he hesitates for a moment so luhan beats him to hugging him.

“it’d be nice if you could get your head back on the game sooner than later though,” he says with his face buried in minseok’s neck, making him laugh.

“yeah, yeah, i will,” he promises, ruffling luhan’s hair before pulling away.

baekhyun reaches out for his hand when he goes back to them, tugging at it to bring him closer. minseok lets himself be dragged, sticking himself to baekhyun’s side. jongdae is talking about an exam he has on monday that he hasn’t studied for yet, and minseok stays quiet for a while, letting them talk over his head.

it’s been five months since he slept with baekhyun that first time, since the thread showed up. it’s been a whole month and a couple of days since he called baekhyun to tell him he was ready to give this a shot, and yet it feels like a lifetime. minseok can’t remember a life before them, and he’s sure he doesn’t want to. it might still be too soon, but when jongdae touches his cheek gently to ask him what’s on his mind, it feels like the right time. 

“wouldn’t it be easier if you had keys to my place, since you’re there practically all the time anyway?” he says slowly.

“that sounds perfect,” jongdae grins. “we can’t give you keys to the dorm because the university won’t let us though,” he adds with a frown.

“we should just move in with you, that would be significantly easier,” baekhyun suggests, and though he’s laughing minseok is pretty sure he means it at least a little.

they joke about tan kicking them out of the house if they tried to make it permanent and they’re already at minseok’s place when baekhyun stops walking, and since he’s holding minseok’s hand he pulls him to a halt as well.

“if it isn’t too soon for keys, does that mean it isn’t too soon to say i love you?” he asks like he’s really just curious and not bringing up an important topic in the middle of the street like it’s nothing.

“i think it’s a good moment for it, actually,” jongdae replies, but he’s looking at minseok with an amused smile, like he can see him panicking and then cooling down and then panicking again because he brought this upon himself. “we can wait though, no worries. you know where to find us -- on your couch, most of the time.”

“no, no,” minseok shakes his head, snapping out of that temporary crisis. he has feelings. he can acknowledge them. he hasn’t said i love you to anyone in a very, very long time, but. he does, he knows it, even if he’s been trying to push the feeling back because it felt like it shouldn’t be happening so early in a relationship. he rubs the back of his neck, and when he lifts his hand to do that he sees the threads hanging in the air, the same red shining ones that used to scare him so much but that he’s barely even spared a thought to lately. it doesn’t feel like they had anything to do with this anymore -- it just feels like he fell in love, plain and simple. “i mean, i do. i really do,” he says, swallowing down the nervousness it gives him to be doing this in the middle of the street, but both his boyfriends are staring at him like that might be a tad too vague. “i love you. both of you. i’m a bit stupidly in love with you, actually.”

“good,” jongdae laughs, grabbing his other hand and tugging him along so they can finally walk the last few meters up to his house. “me too. a lot stupidly in love, but yeah.”

baekhyun follows them into the house, grabbing tan as soon as minseok opens the door. the cat seems to have finally accepted baekhyun into his life, going from not trusting him at all to suddenly wanting to be on him at all times in a matter of days. minseok can relate.

“i’m not gonna say it like this, it’s too dull,” baekhyun says, shaking his head and burying his nose in tan’s fur. “make me a candlelight dinner, and i’ll consider it.”

jongdae laughs, scratching tan’s ears before walking into minseok’s living room like he owns the place, which at this point isn’t too far from reality.

“i know you love me, you idiot,” he yells out from the couch, and baekhyun rolls his eyes at him as if he could see him.

“i’m still gonna make him wait for it,” baekhyun whispers to minseok after he’s taken off his sneakers and come back to say hi to his cat, who seems to have forgotten all about him. “you’re cool though, you can have it.”

“can i?” minseok giggles, amused, fond, a little overwhelmed.

“i love you. i’m in love with you. i’m ridiculously happy you were at the end of the thread,” baekhyun says almost shyly, hiding his smile in tan’s neck.

minseok has to negotiate with tan to get him off baekhyun so he can kiss him. it takes exactly fifteen seconds of them quietly making out for jongdae to start whining from the living room about being left out, and minseok giggles against baekhyun’s lips, pulling at the hem of his shirt to get him to follow him to the couch where they fall by jongdae’s side, who doesn’t stop whining until minseok kisses him too.

they sleep over, like they usually do, and when minseok gets up in the middle of the night because tan wants to go out, he sees the threads tangled up together around their bodies, bringing their hands closer together, and he smiles. maybe soulmates aren’t all that bad.

**Author's Note:**

> im [here](http://twitter.com/ofstellardust) more often than i should


End file.
